More than Meets the Eye
by juliablack92
Summary: When Lily Evans learns that James Potter is Head Boy she doesn’t know what to think. In her seventh year, Lily finds out that there is much more to James than meets the eye and together they set out on the long and precarious road to each other’s hearts.
1. Good Dreams and Nightmares

It was a hot and humid morning in late August and Lily Evans had just woken up. She sat up in her bed, so similar to hers at Hogwarts, amidst her warm cozy blankets and gazed out her window. It was still early and the sky was a gorgeous blend of vibrant pink and orange.

Lily rested her head in her hands, trying to remember the dream she had been having. It had been a good dream. _She was Head Girl, patrolling the halls with the Head Boy. She remembered him being handsome, clever and funny and she found herself laughing at something he said. Together they strolled down the hall, holding hands and giggling. _

Lily tried to recall the boy's face but no matter how hard she tried, she could not. It was as if he had had no face at all but was perfect to her nonetheless. But that was how good dreams were supposed to be—a little confusing but satisfying too.

Shaking herself of the now seemingly corny dream, Lily rolled out of bed and trudged across the room to her wardrobe to change. Sighing at her lack of suitable Muggle clothes, even after having grown up as one, Lily chose a clean pair of jean shorts and an old pink T-shirt. She took a brush through her long dark red hair and stared at her reflection in her old mahogany framed mirror. In the reflection she spotted the letter that her best friend, Meredith Reed, had sent her the day before on her nightstand.

The letter had been short and vague but Meredith had sounded excited nonetheless. Turning around, Lily picked up the letter and again tried to interpret her friend's loopy scrawl.

_Hey Lily!_

_I have big and exciting news!! I would tell you but you will find out soon enough. I can't wait for school to start. I have a feeling this year will be a great one!_

_Love,_

_Meredith_

Folding up the letter, Lily put it in the pocket of her jeans and headed down the stairs for breakfast, her mind in turmoil. _What is Meredith so excited about and why won't she tell me? School will be starting in only a few days. Why is she waiting until then? Maybe I should write to Kelly and Andy and ask if they know what is going—_

"LILY! Get this creature out of the house now!" Petunia screeched from the kitchen, interrupting Lily's thoughts.

A great tawny owl had just swooped in the open bay window bearing a cream colored envelope and was helping itself to her older sister's pancakes. Petunia had jumped out of her chair in fright and was cowering in a corner far away from the owl.

"Don't wet yourself, Tuney," Lily giggled as she untied the letter and sent the owl off. "It's just my Hogwarts letter."

Ignoring Petunia's exaggerated gasp at the mention of her school, Lily slit open the unusually large envelope. Along with her usual letter welcoming the new school year and a list of supplies she needed for seventh year, another letter fell out with a scarlet and gold colored badge.

Lily held her breath and, hoping for the best, picked up the badge and turned it over in her hand. Excitement and pride filled her and a wide smile spread across her face as the engraved words "HEAD GIRL" gleamed up at her. She could not believe it. Even after being at the top of her class and receiving Outstandings on most of her O.W.L.S, with the exception of two Exceeds Expectations in Transfiguration and Divination, she had not expected it. Gabrielle Singleton from Ravenclaw had seemed a better candidate: a leader, very clever, and adored by the professors.

"What's that?" asked Petunia, whose curiosity had overpowered her disgust and fear of Lily's world.

Lily, who had long ago given up explaining things to her sister, grabbed a banana from the fruit basket on the counter and hurried back upstairs to her room to write to her friends about becoming Head Girl. As she got a piece of parchment out of her desk, Lily's thoughts went back to Meredith's letter. Was getting Head Girl the big and exciting news she had been so eager for Lily to hear? If it was, how did she find out that Lily had been awarded the badge?

But even after Lily pushed thoughts of Head Girl and Meredith from her mind, thoughts about the Head Boy entered it. Would he be handsome and clever or scrawny and timid? Would he be kind and charming or rude and obnoxious? Calling her small snowy owl, Snowflake, from the top of the wardrobe, she sent a letter off to Meredith along with her two other best friends, Kelly Hamilton and Andy Wolf. After she watched her owl soar out the window with the three letters, Lily picked up her congratulatory letter. Several lines in, Lily found her answer.

_Dear Miss Evans_

_I am pleased to inform you that you have been chosen as this year's Head Girl for Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. You have been chosen for your excellent academic achievements, your superb leadership skill, and your strong work ethic. You, along with the new Head Boy, James Potter, will provide great role models for the younger students. Please report to the Prefects' compartment on the Hogwarts Express at eleven o'clock. The two Heads are responsible for informing new Prefects of their responsibilities. _

_We will have a brief meeting to discuss the Head Boy and Girl's responsibilities and duties after the start of term feast at nine o'clock. I will look forward to meeting with you soon._

_Yours sincerely, _

_Albus Dumbledore_

The words hit her harder than a Bludger from a Slytherin Beater: "new Head Boy, James Potter." Feeling slightly faint, Lily sank onto her bed and hoped to wake up from this nightmare. How did James Potter of all people become Head Boy? Why not Remus Lupin or someone else who is sensible? More importantly, how was she supposed to work with him?

* * *

**This is my first fanfiction! Please let me know what you think =]**


	2. The Start of Something New

The next few days of August seemed to fly and before Lily knew it, she was standing in the middle of her room with clothes and books scattered everywhere, staring at an open and empty trunk. The chaos from the past few days between shopping for books, getting new robes, and finishing homework had kept her busy resulting in her continual procrastination to pack her things.

Lily had stayed up late the night before putting final touches to her Transfiguration essay on animal transformations (which she still did not fully understand) and as a result had overslept. Looking at her watch, which read quarter till eleven o'clock, she hurriedly threw books, robes, quills, and anything else within reach that she thought she might need at Hogwarts into her trunk. With ten minutes to go, she grabbed a bagel, pecked both her parents on the cheek, and apparated to Kings Cross Station.

As Lily crossed the barrier between platforms nine and ten, hair a mess and the bagel still in hand, she breathed a sigh of relief to see the train still there and people milling about the platform. Most of these were parents of children already aboard, but others were older students who, like Lily, had probably overslept and rushed out the door, too.

There was one small girl, however, that caught Lily's eye. She had long brown hair tied in pigtails and looked as though she could be a first year. She stood alone on the platform with a small backpack and looked lost and afraid. More than ready to begin her Head Girl duties, Lily took her last bite of breakfast and approached the small girl.

"Hello, sweetheart," Lily began uneasily "Do you need any help?"

The girl nodded and wiped her eyes with her sleeve.

"I can't find my sister," whimpered the little girl. "She said she would stay with me and now I'm lost and I don't know what to do."

"You'll be okay with me. I'm sure she can't be too far—"

"Lizzie!" a new voice called.

Both Lily and the little girl turned to see another girl of about thirteen carrying an overweight cat and rolling her trunk towards them. At the sight of her sister, the little girl's face lit up and she ran over to her.

Lily smiled fondly as she watched the two sisters make their way down the platform and disappear onto the train. Lizzie reminded Lily of how small and scared she had been her first year. Lily was a Muggle-born and had known nothing about magic or Hogwarts when she first received her letter. How long ago that had been! Gathering up her belongings, Lily turned around to head onto the train herself but instead walked straight into someone.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to…" Lily started but faltered when she saw the person she had collided with. There stood James Potter, taller and more handsome looking than she remembered. Throughout all her years at Hogwarts, Lily had never gotten along with James very well. She found him to be extremely arrogant and annoying. Today, however, instead of his usual cocky grin plastered across his face, he looked at Lily coolly and expressionless.

"Evans," he said with a nod. "I've been looking for you."

"Potter!" Lily exclaimed with frustration, "We've been through this time after time. No, I do not want to go out—" She stopped at his raised eyebrows and inquiring look.

"I think you misunderstood me," he said matter-of-factly. "I was asked to look for you because you hadn't showed up. We've got to hurry back, or we'll miss the train."

And with that, he turned on his heel and disappeared onto the train, leaving Lily with no choice but to follow him.

As she stepped on the train, keeping an eye on the jet black hair walking down the aisle, she heard a voice call her name. Lily looked around for the source and spotted one of her best friends, Andy Wolf, walking towards her. Andy was a boy who, unlike the four Marauders, had developed a sense of responsibility early in life and had been one of her best friends since first year. Lily knew that Potter was jealous of her close relationship with Andy, but he had no idea that it was only platonic. She loved Andy like a brother and he felt the same way about her.

"Hey, Andy!" Lily interjected before he could speak. "Let me catch up with you and everyone else in a little while. I'm kind of in a hurry. I'll explain later."

"I...uhh…okay then. Come by our compartment later. We're in the back of the train," Andy said, looking mildly interested and partly confused.

Lily turned around to look for Potter and spotted him approaching a compartment a ways down the hall. She ran to catch up with him and followed him into the compartment.

The Prefect meeting was fairly short. Much to Lily's surprise, Potter had been prepared and was able to help Lily conduct the meeting in a mature and orderly fashion. In fact, Lily caught herself staring at him several times trying to find out what happened to the overconfident and bothersome boy she had known these past six years. Instead, she saw a stranger in James' body. This was such an astonishing change in his character that Lily approached him after the meeting, wanting an explanation.

"James," Lily called after him as he exited the Prefects' compartment. The raven- haired boy turned at the sound of his name and Lily saw a surprised expression etched across his face.

"So I'm James now?" he asked.

"I uh…_no_..." she said indignantly. "I just wanted to talk to you for a moment."

They were walking together now down the aisle of the train.

"Shoot," he replied.

"I wanted to thank you for what you did during the Prefects meeting," she said.

"What do you mean?" Potter said looking at the floor as he walked.

"You know what I mean; you didn't act like 'Potter'. When I saw that you were Head Boy, I was shocked beyond belief. I didn't think you were capable of handling something so maturely. " Lily looked slightly embarrassed. She couldn't believe that she had just said this. She was complimenting Potter of all people!

"Thanks, Evans. That means a lot coming from you," he said, again not meeting her eyes. Lily ignored the new distance he was keeping between them and tried to continue the conversation.

"Oh, and by the way…How did you manage to know what to say at the meeting? You weren't a Prefect last year," Lily pointed out.

"Remus told me about the Prefect duties," Potter answered. "Head Boy isn't something to be taken lightly, no matter how much Sirius wants me too, so I did my homework and came prepared."

By this time the two had arrived at the Marauders' compartment. Standing outside the compartment was a gaggle of girls, chattering away enthusiastically.

"James!" called a particularly petite blonde girl.

"Olivia," Potter said with a nod.

Lily rolled her eyes as she saw Olivia Brooks break free from her group of friends. As a popular prankster and Quidditch star, Potter always had various girls fawning over him. Lily thought those girls were so superficial and could not imagine ever being like them.

"I guess I'll see you later," Potter murmured to her as he broke free from Olivia and stepped inside the compartment.

Lily stood rooted to the spot, dumbfounded. What could possibly have happened to Potter to make him change his attitude so drastically? Usually, he would have taken advantage of every second of adoration the girls gave him. Why did he pay Olivia and her friends so little attention?

Then a sudden uproar of noise from within the compartment made her jump.

"Prongs!"

"How are you, mate?"

"How'd it go, Prongs?"

Lily recognized these voices to belong to Remus Lupin, Peter Pettigrew, and Sirius Black greeting Potter.

"Not too bad. How was France with your family, Moony?" Potter replied enthusiastically. "You can't possibly be trying to finish your entire Transfiguration essay now, can you Wormtail? Here, I'll let you look at mine. And Padfoot, how'd you know…"

"Oh, I have my ways, good friend," joked Black.

"Before I let you start into your favorite topic," interjected Remus, "let me show you a new addition I've added to the map…"

Lily frowned to herself as she continued to listen to the conversation. Now Potter was laughing and joking with his friends like his old self and this confused Lily. Why did he suddenly change the way he acted towards her?


	3. Reunions

Shaking her head and rolling her eyes, she gave up on the question of Potter's behavior and went to find her friends. Their compartment was near the back of the train, close to the Marauders' compartment. As soon as she slid open the door, she was met with the cries of her best friends.

Meredith Reed was the first to leap up from her seat and give Lily a bone crushing hug. She was not a very large girl, about 5'5", but had a strength and determination about her that was powerful and sometimes intimidating. Once Meredith released her, Lily could fully see her best friend and the two others sitting patiently to greet her too. She knew that Meredith had been to the coast with her family and she had a nice tan to show for it. Her newly sun-kissed skin contrasted nicely with her shoulder length caramel colored hair tied back in a loose ponytail and sparkling blue eyes.

"So how was your summer Lils?" asked Meredith eagerly .

"It was probably better than average, considering my past experiences with Petunia," Lily admitted. "How were your summers?" she asked. Her gaze fell on Kelly Hamilton and Andy Wolf, who were sitting next to each other and who had been quiet so far.

"Mine was pretty good. I missed you all," said Kelly smiling as she got up from her seat to hug Lily.

Lily smiled back at her other best friend. She had known Kelly for six years and she had always been the kind and thoughtful one of the group. She was not as outgoing as Meredith but was instead shy and sweet. Lily released Kelly from the hug and looked at her friend. She had grown over the summer and had finally developed a slight and feminine figure to compliment her beautiful chocolate brown curls and warm brown eyes.

After Kelly sat down, Andy got up and gave Lily a one armed hug. She reached up to rumple his dirty blonde hair and smiled knowingly as he sat back down next to Kelly. Andy appeared to have changed a lot over the summer too. He looked as though he had gained another inch or so in height, making him about 5'10" now. His weeks of Quidditch training during the summer with his older brother also seemed to have payed off Lily thought as she looked at his muscular arms.

"So, Meredith," said Lily, turning on Meredith, "what was this huge and exciting news you mentioned in your letter but wouldn't tell me?"

"Oh my gosh! I completely forgot!" Meredith jumped up from her seat with excitement and clapped her hands together ready to tell her story.

"Okay, so you know how I love Quidditch?" Meredith began.

They all nodded. Meredith was a tomboy and loved Quidditch with such a passion unknown to Lily and Kelly. In all her years at Hogwarts, however, she had never been on the Gryffindor Quidditch team. She claimed that she had never had a fast broom which prohibited the captains from seeing her full potential as a Chaser. But even so, every year since she had been able to, Meredith had tried out for the team, confident that she would make it, only to come back rejected. Her claim at having an inadequate broom was partially true; Meredith's father was a Muggle and her mother didn't especially value Quidditch as much as her daughter did. Lily knew in her heart, however, that although her friend loved the sport with all her heart, she did not have nearly the talent that was needed to secure a spot on the team.

"Well," said Meredith unable to contain the excitement on her face, "I got a Cleansweep!"

Andy's jaw dropped. Lily and Kelly on the other hand, merely looked at each other in bewilderment.

"You've got to be kidding me! Do you know how much those cost! That's the newest model out there!" exclaimed Andy.

"I know! I finally talked my parents into it and I'd been saving for it for a while and I finally had enough money to buy it this summer! But do you know what this means? I'm going to be on the team now! Even if I play terribly, they won't reject a Cleansweep!" she continued animatedly.

"And this year should be the best yet," Meredith said more to herself than anyone, gazing out the window, "because James is captain."

At this, Lily and Kelly looked at each other. They knew that Meredith had had secret feelings for Potter since fifth year and had tried unsuccessfully to hide them, especially since Lily had a huge grudge against the boy. But Lily knew deep down that these feelings were one of the main reasons for her friend's persistence to become a member of the Quidditch team. She also knew that James Potter only knew Meredith existed because she was friends with Lily.

She turned her gaze from her friends and looked out the window, catching a glimpse of the tall towers of Hogwarts peeking through the trees in the distance. With Potter as her co-head and Meredith harboring secret feelings for him in addition to all the extra N.E.W.T work she was bound to have, Lily felt that she was in for a long last year at Hogwarts.

When the train finally arrived at Hogwarts, Lily and her friends were one of the last ones to leave the train. They had rushed to change into their robes and as a result there were no empty carriages left to take them up to the school. Lily stared in disbelief at the last two carriages that had some room left. One belonged to an obnoxious looking group of second years and the other, of course, had to belong to the Marauders.

Kelly saw the look on Lily's face.

"Aw, come on Lily. They're not that bad," she said reassuringly.

"That's what you say now," said Lily, rolling her eyes as they approached the boys' carriage.


	4. Back at Hogwarts

"Well, well, well, look who we have here. How are my favorite ladies doing this evening?" asked Sirius Black with a goofy grin on his face as Lily, Meredith, and Kelly climbed into the carriage.

"Andy," Black said with a nod as Andy climbed in. Andy, unlike the girls, was on fairly good terms with the Marauders. In fact, he had been good friends with them in first and second year and then drifted away as he became friends with Lily, Meredith, and Kelly. Andy probably would have even become a Marauder with a silly nickname and everything else that set the four boys aside if he had kept up the friendship. Instead of Andy, however, a chubby boy with mousy brown hair named Peter Pettigrew took his place. Lily did not quite see what Black, Potter, and Remus saw in the boy. He was not quite up to par with them physically, socially, or even academically, and tagged along with their group, drawn to their leadership and power in the school.

As they took their seats, Lily saw that the Marauders had changed over the summer like her friends too. Remus Lupin, the only sensible one in the group Lily thought, was not quite as shabby and bedraggled looking as usual and had grown an inch or two over the summer, making him look even older and mature. Peter Pettigrew had seemed to gain an inch or so as well, except his happened to be around the middle. And although she did not want to admit it, both Sirius Black and James Potter seemed to have grown taller and become even more attractive. Black's dark hair had gotten longer, hanging about his face, framing his handsome features. Potter's jet black hair was also longer and more untidy than ever, but it did not look half bad this year Lily noticed. All the boys appeared to have finally grown into their adult bodies and with the addition of four extra bodies, the carriage was very cramped.

"So what classes are you boys taking this year?" Kelly asked. Lily stared at her friend in disbelief; only Kelly would strike up a friendly, casual conversation with the Marauders.

"Oh, we're taking the usual load, Transfiguration, Charms, Potions and the lot. We might add in a few pranks here and a couple of girls there though," Black said as he flashed the girls his white teeth. "James might even try to take on Evans this year. It is his last chance."

Lily dropped her jaw with indignation while Potter turned beet red.

"Sirius, I mean it," Potter muttered sharply, elbowing Black in the side.

"Fine, fine, if you want to be like that, go ahead. I'm not stopping you."

As they were carried down the road to Hogwarts for the last time, Black eventually lost interest in annoying the girls, considering they tried their best to ignore him, and began a conversation with Potter and Andy.

"So who do you think the new Defense against the Dark Arts teacher is going to be?" Black asked.

"How do you know Calderwood won't be here this year again?" asked Andy. Black and Potter exchanged glances.

"There's a curse on the job," Potter said simply, "Think back over the last six years we've been here. Have we ever had one for more than a year?"

"No, I guess we haven't now that I think about it," replied Andy, "Why is there a curse on the job?" He glanced over at the girls, silently asking them if they thought the Marauders had anything to do with this.

"Beats me," said Black, shrugging his shoulders. "But it doesn't really bother me; no one can possibly be worse than Calderwood. How many detentions do you think she had given us by the end of last year, Prongs?"

"Probably over a hundred, at least," said Potter with a chuckle. There was silence for a few moments until Potter spoke again.

"I can think of someone worse than Calderwood though. My dad's an Auror and he's heard rumors of some wizard who calls himself 'Lord Voldemort.' He's supposedly a power hungry maniac who kills whoever he wants whenever he wants." Potter stopped at the groups' worried looks. "But who knows, my dad could be wrong. Volde—what's his name could be nothing but a disturbed escapee of St. Mungos." He tried to laugh off the last dark and foreboding few seconds. Remus was quick to change the subject.

"Look, we're here," he announced as the carriage stopped in front of the school. Lily and her friends got out of the carriage and parted from the Marauders. They were silent walking the distance from the carriage to the great doors of the Entrance Hall, thinking about what Potter had just said. Surely Voldemort was not a threat to them. They were at Hogwarts, protected by the best headmaster the school had seen in years. Although she assured herself of her safety, still, something deep down inside Lily was unsure.

*****

As they entered Hogwarts, Lily let out a sigh of relief. She was finally home. The vastness of the Great Hall still overwhelmed her like it did her very first time entering it. The ceiling so accurately portrayed the evening sky, a mix of navy blue sprinkled with indigo and other various shades of blue.

After the sorting of the new and terrified looking first years, Lily enjoyed a delicious meal, making her appreciate Hogwarts all the more. As she chatted with her friends, she glanced over at the Marauders. Usually, she would catch Potter sneaking glances at her. However, he seemed as though he didn't even know she existed. For some reason, she felt somewhat disappointed at this new change. Even though she loathed Potter with all her might, his drastic disinterest in her bothered Lily and she even felt a bit insulted.

As she was finishing up her dessert, Dumbledore rose to conclude the dinner and dismiss the students to bed.

"Now that your bellies are full and I see that some of you yawning, I hope you will spare me a few words before I dismiss you to bed. First, students are reminded that the Forbidden Forrest is off limits. Secondly, Quidditch try-outs are coming up. Check with the Head of your House or Quidditch Captain for specific dates. I would also like to remind the Head Boy and Girl to report to my office for a brief meeting. They should know that I am fond of lemon drops." Here, Dumbledore winked at Lily. "I hope you all have a good night and sleep well. Classes begin bright and early tomorrow morning."

Lily groaned. The Head meeting with Dumbledore and Potter had completely slipped her mind. Being the good student that she was, Lily was not completely sure where Dumbledore's office was. She looked around for Potter but, as always it seemed, he eluded her gaze and disappeared into the crowd.

Fortunately, Lily was able to navigate her way through the castle well enough to find her way to Dumbledore's office. As she entered, she sat down in a cushioned chair in front of a smiling Dumbledore and next to Potter who was staring intently at the various spinning objects on the headmaster's desk.

"James, Lily," Dumbledore began, "First, I would like to congratulate you again on becoming the Head Boy and Girl of the school. You should be very proud of yourselves. Second, I would like to inform you of your duties this year. I'll be brief, as I know that you need your sleep."

"You will be responsible for patrolling the castle every Monday and Friday nights. The Prefects from each of the four houses patrol Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday nights. Teachers patrol on Sunday nights. You will also be in charge of the passwords for each of the houses. You are free to change them whenever you feel necessary. I will forewarn you that if this duty is abused," he glanced at Potter with a slight smile, "then it will be taken away. Finally, every few months, you should meet with the Prefects. This can be brief— just review how their weekly patrolling duties have been going and if they have had any general problems with their position. I trust that you two will do a fine job. If you have any questions at all, feel free to drop by." Dumbledore beamed as they got up from their seats and left his office. Even though the headmaster had made her job seem easy, she doubted how simple it would be working with Potter. She sighed, knowing she was in for a rough year ahead.


	5. Change for the Better?

The next week at school was by far the most different week Lily had ever had at Hogwarts. Lily had thought that her fifth year had been very hectic and stressful, between doing homework, preparing for O.W.L.S, and avoiding the ever present and annoying James Potter. This year, Lily would be taking her NEWTs and already her teachers were loading them with homework. Professor McGonagall had assigned them two essays due the following week and Slughorn was requiring them to read almost half of _Advanced Potion Making_ in a matter of days. Lily herself was already cringing at the thought of what she would be doing in the weeks before her exams.

But still the most different thing about her seventh year was the absence of James Potter. Sure, he was still in her classes. They even saw more of each other during the first week of school than usual because of their Head duties. To Lily though, he wasn't the same James Potter. At least around her he wasn't.

One day in Transfiguration, Potter's best class, Lily's spell missed the caterpillar she was supposed to be transfiguring into a butterfly and gave James' book bag wings. In past years, he would have attempted to place his hands on top of hers to properly show her how to flick her wand. In these cases, Lily would sharply admonish him until a teacher had to intervene. Now, Potter flicked his wand to change back his winged book bag and looked at Lily.

"Better luck next time, Evans," he said reassuringly. "Why don't you try using a little less flick?" Then, he turned back to his friends and didn't even look at Lily for the rest of the class.

Two days later in Herbology, Professor Sprout paired Lily with Potter to be partners for the class. They had been directed to retrieve pods from Snargaluffs. Together, they worked quickly and silently, trying to tame the gnarled and prickly vines. Once Lily had secured the tentacle like vines, Potter plunged his arm into the plant and pulled out a large green pod. Setting it down on the table, he gave Lily a "good job" and wandered off to the table where Remus and Black were working.

"It's as if he doesn't even know I exist anymore," Lily thought to herself as she watched Potter from afar. Sitting with his friends, Potter had a huge grin on his face. He must have told a joke because the other boys were howling with laughter.

That Monday, the beginning of their second week of the new term, Lily made up her mind to confront Potter about his behavior. He had been in her thoughts more than she had wanted him to be the past week and she felt that it was high time to get to the bottom of this quandary and move on with her life.

Around eight o'clock, that night, Lily found Potter and the other three Marauders sitting on the couch by the fireplace and motioned to him that they had to leave for their Head duties.

"Potter!" Lily exclaimed as soon as they left the Common Room. He turned to her, looking completely dumbfounded.

"Have I done something to you, Evans," Potter asked, with an eyebrow raised.

"As a matter of fact, yes, you have," she stated matter-of-factly.

"Did I?" he asked with a small smile. "Even though the school year has barely even started? Plus, Lily, I would have thought you'd already given me enough grief to last me a lifetime."

"You know what I mean, Potter. You've barely talked or even looked at me all week, even during patrols. That's not like you. By this time last year, I think you had asked me out about three times. Did something happen to you over the summer?" Lily questioned. "Now that we're both Heads and we'll be spending a lot of time together, you might as well open up to me," she said a little quieter.

"Are you worried about me, Evans?" Potter asked.

"Of course not!" she replied. After a hesitation, she added "but if I was, would you talk to me, Potter?"

"Sure. I can't have you worrying about me, can I?" he said.

She glanced at him, unsure of what to say. Was he trying to flirt with her? Even though Potter was acting more maturely this year, she didn't think she had feelings for him. No, she knew she didn't have feelings for him. But that still didn't mean she had to be mean to him like she had been in past years. After all, he was her partner Head. Still, undecided how she should respond, Lily chose to ignore him and focus her attention on the floor.

They walked in silence for a few minutes. After a while, Lily spoke.

"Potter, do you want to talk to me about what happened to you over the summer? I promise I won't yell at you," she said sincerely.

He looked at her, staring into her emerald green eyes.

"Nothing happened," he said simply. "You're making it seem as if I went through a major crisis over the summer. Sirius moved in with us and we spent some time talking, but that's it."

Lily looked at him blankly.

"That's it. Then why have you been ignoring me all week?" Lily asked becoming impatient.

Potter shrugged.

"I'm not ignoring you. I'm just not hovering around you every second of the day like I used to do. You'll get used to it soon enough." He looked down at his watch. "Hey, I've still got an essay to finish up for class tomorrow. Why don't we split up so we can cover the rest of the castle quicker? You can go upstairs and I'll go downstairs."

With that, Potter started down the flight of stairs that led to the dungeons, took a few steps, but then turned back around to face Lily.

"Oh, I almost forgot. Now that we're working together, you can call me James."

He gave her a small smile, then disappeared as quick as if he had apparated, leaving Lily standing alone and confused. An owl's hoot outside shook her of her thoughts and she headed upstairs to finish patrolling.

*****

Lily entered the seventh year girls' dormitory after finishing her rounds to find her five roommates still awake sitting on their beds, chatting about the latest gossip of Hogwarts.

In addition to Kelly and Meredith, her roommates were a fairly motley bunch. There was the quiet Alice Brown who had mousy brown hair that hung at her shoulders. Then, there was Marlene McKinnon, a pureblood, who had short dark hair and quite a knack for Charms. She lay sprawled out across a bed talking to Amber Nguyen. Amber was about as gentle and sweet as Kelly, maybe a little more emotional, and had long and silky ebony Asian hair.

Lily took a seat on the bed next to Kelly and asked her to step out of the room. She wanted to confide to her friend alone what had just happened between her and Potter.

"Lily, are you okay?" Kelly asked concernedly upon seeing Lily's bewildered expression.

"Yeah, I guess. I can't believe we're barely back and stupid Potter is messing everything up again."

"What happened? Did he ask you out?"

"No, but that's the thing. He has been acting so distant all week. You've seen him around me, Kelly. He won't talk to me or even look at me. Then tonight when I confronted him about it, he said he hadn't been ignoring me and I shouldn't worry about him. Then right before we split up, he asked me to call him 'James.' If we're going to be calling each other by our first names, shouldn't _I_be the one to give him the go ahead. _I _was the one who started calling him 'Potter' in the first place." Lily heaved a sigh.

"Lily, don't let this bother you so much. You know, maybe he's just grown up and moved on from you finally. I mean, isn't that what you've been wanting him to do for the past several years?"

"Yeah, but I still don't think he's moved on from me. Maybe, he's just pretending to act all _mature_ just to get me to fall for him. I tell you what. I'm not going to fall for—"

"Lily," said Kelly gently, leading the way back inside the dormitory. "Calm down. Maybe you're right, but I doubt it. Just forget about him for now and go to bed. We've got classes early tomorrow morning."

"All right," Lily said, "Kelly, I don't know what I'd do without you."

Kelly sighed as she got into bed. "I know. I only hope others would need me as much."

As Lily lay in bed, listening to Marlene's soft snores, she thought about what Kelly had just said. She meant Andy. It warmed her heart that her two best friends felt so strongly about each other. If only they would come to and see it for themselves.


	6. Quidditch Tryouts

As the last warm summer days came to an end and the chilly, blustery days of autumn set in, Quidditch try-outs were announced. This usually did not concern Lily and Kelly, but with Meredith's persistent pleading, they finally agreed to go.

After a hasty breakfast, Meredith and Andy headed down to the Quidditch pitch early, enthusiastically discussing game strategies and broomsticks while Lily and Kelly lingered a ways behind them.

"In all your years at Hogwarts, have you ever been to Quidditch try-outs?" Kelly asked Lily.

"Severus Snape dragged me along to try-outs in second year—you remember how I used to be friends with him—but James Potter annoyed me so much I left after about ten minutes," Lily said.

"Wow, we have really changed since then. I'm not saying this offensively, but I can't believe you of all people were ever friends with Snape," Kelly admitted.

"Yeah, I know what you mean. He used to not be so bad, but then he changed for the worse. I don't even know him now," Lily continued.

By then the girls had reached the Quidditch pitch and took their seats in the stands. The wind was blowing hard and the girls wrapped their scarves around them tighter as they searched the crowd of students for their friends.

"Oh look, there's Andy!" Kelly exclaimed excitedly, "and Meredith."

For the next hour and a half, the girls watched James Potter conduct the try-outs. First, the Beaters tried out and were put through a variety of drills to test their skills. Kelly beamed as Andy hit each target and outperformed every other person on the field. Second, the Chasers tried out. This group included Meredith, who Lily had to admit, performed much better than she had expected, but still was not the best player. After the Seekers tried out, Potter called everyone together to announce the year's team members. Lily and Kelly waited with bated breath, as the player's names were called. Andy, as expected was welcomed back whole heartedly and even received a pat on the back from Potter. Then as the Chasers' names were called, Meredith's name was surprisingly announced as well.

"Lily, Kelly! I made the team!" Meredith called, overjoyed. Lily rushed onto the field to congratulate her friend while Kelly slipped away to give her congrats to Andy. Meredith was crying with happiness as she hugged Lily. Then, Lily watched in embarrassment, as Meredith pulled away from her and confronted Potter.

"James! I can't believe you let me on the team! You don't know how much this means to me. I am going to try my absolute hardest this year. Just tell me what to do. I won't let you down!" At this point, Meredith tripped over Potter's belongings and landed face down in the dirt.

"Here, let me help you," said Potter, offering Meredith his hand.

Gleefully, Meredith took his arm and began to babble her thanks again.

"Oh, James I'm so sorry about tripping over your things. You must think I'm such a klutz. I'm really not so clumsy. I can show you at practice. Excuse me for not being modest, but I'm actually quite a Chaser…"

Potter glanced at Lily and mouthed "is she always like that?"

Laughing, Lily shook her head.

"She's only like that around you, Potter," she whispered.

"I told you to call me 'James,' Evans," he admonished quietly.

"Then how come you're still calling me 'Evans,'" Lily replied.

"You haven't given me your permission to call you 'Lily' yet," he answered simply. "And I believe that after last year, you made it clear that I was to never call you anything except 'Evans' unless you said otherwise. And then according to you, you would have completely lost your mind."

Lily blushed at the memory. In past years, she had never gotten along with him very well. In fact, most of their conversations ended with her yelling at him.

Considering her answer, she glanced over at Meredith, admiring Potter's broom.

"Fine, you can call me 'Lily' and I'll call you 'James' but if you get cocky about it—"

"Don't worry, Lily, I won't." With that, he turned back to Meredith, gathered his bag, practically pried his broomstick from her hands, and turned back to the castle.

Lily watched him until he disappeared out of sight. _James…James…James. _That felt so much different to her than his surname—different but in a good way.

"What are you smiling about?" Meredith had turned her attention back to Lily.

"Nothing," she recovered quickly.

"Okay, let's go back to the castle now. I have a ton of homework for McGonagall to do."

"What about Kelly and Andy?" Lily asked.

"I think they already headed back"

"Oh," said Lily with a little disappointment. As much as she loved being Meredith's friend, she did not want to hear every detail of every play she had made nor every detail of what James Potter had said during try-outs.

When they got back to the Common Room, Kelly and Andy were not there. In fact, Lily didn't see either of them until dinner that night, where the two acted especially distant towards her.

After they finished dinner, Lily cornered Kelly and led her to a deserted hallway.

"That's it. Tell me what happened. You and Andy disappeared after try-outs, and then you don't come back until dinner. What's up?"

Kelly turned bright red and glanced around to confirm that the hallway was empty.

"Andy and I are a couple now!" she said excitedly.

"What! How?" Lily pressed.

"After try-outs, we walked around the grounds and talked all afternoon. He told me how much he had missed me over the summer and kept mentioning how pretty he thought I looked. So, I took a chance and told him how I felt about him."

"Oh, Kelly! What did he say?"

"Nothing. He kissed me." Kelly had a huge smile spread across her face.

*****

That night, Lily met James outside the Common Room for their patrolling duties. They strolled along for a while until Lily broke the silence.

"James, I want you to talk to me. We always walk in silence and I'm sick of it. Tell me about yourself."

"Well, you probably know I'm an only child. My parents are both Aurors and I've wanted to be one too ever since I was young."

"Me too! Both of my parents are Muggles so life's usually pretty dull during the summer. Once I finish Hogwarts I want my life to be full of adventure," Lily said excitedly.

"Yeah, I could see you being an Auror. Remember fifth year when you hexed me and I was in the Hospital Wing for a week," James said.

"Yeah, I'm sorry about that," Lily giggled. "You used to be so annoying."

They climbed a set of stairs and started down a long corridor before Lily spoke again.

"I heard Sirius say that he was living with you now. Why is that?"

"Sirius's family is pureblood and they think that everyone should be and associate with other purebloods," James explained. "They've all been in Slytherin and Sirius was seen as the family black sheep when he was sorted into Gryffindor. He acts and thinks so differently than they do. During the winter holidays last year, he got so fed up with them he ran away to our house. My mum and dad practically adopted him. He's almost been my brother since first year so it made sense for him to move in with us."

"That's good that he has you to help him out," Lily said. "Even though we're different, I could never imagine not coming home to my parents during the holidays." She hesitated before saying "Petunia, though, I could live without."

"She's that hard to live with?" James asked.

"Unbelievably," Lily said, smiling.

For the next hour, James and Lily patrolled the halls of Hogwarts, talking about their lives in and outside of Hogwarts. When Lily finally returned to her dormitory and climbed into her warm bed, she smiled to herself. Today had been a good day. Kelly had finally admitted her feelings to Andy and she was on her way to developing a strong friendship with James.


	7. Ups and Downs

After a long, hard day of classes, Lily returned to the common room, too stressed and exhausted. She had several exams to study for and piles of homework left to do. McGonagall had assigned a fifteen-inch essay on Untransfiguration which she especially did not understand. Scanning the common room, Lily looked for Andy. He had a much better grasp of Transfiguration than Lily did and he was always willing to help her.

There by the fireplace, she spotted Andy sitting on the couch with his arm wrapped around Kelly. Lily began towards them until Andy leaned towards Kelly and kissed her on the mouth. Sighing with frustration, she turned around and headed to the library. This had been happening frequently ever since Kelly and Andy had become a couple. She felt as if she barely had any time to spend with her friends anymore.

"Lily! Over here," a voice called as Lily entered the library.

Lily looked around the room for the source of the voice and was very surprised to find Meredith sitting at a table stacked high with books with James Potter.

"What are you two doing here?" Lily exclaimed.

"Shh!" reprimanded the librarian from her desk.

"We're studying together!" whispered Meredith excitedly. "James is really good at Transfiguration and he's helping me with McGonagall's essay."

"And she's helping me with Potions," added Potter. "But it seems like you understand enough to finish the essay, Mary. Oh, and thanks a ton for the help on Slughorn's homework."

"My name's Meredith,"

"Right. Well, I'm getting pretty tired." He faked a yawn. "Why don't you head back up to the common room? I'll catch up with you later; I just need to look up one more thing."

"Are you sure you don't need help?" Meredith offered.

"I think I'll be okay," Potter said, a little impatiently.

Looking a little upset at being kicked out, Meredith gathered up her books and left the library.

Lily set her book bag down on a nearby table and opened her _Guide to Advanced Transfiguration_ to start her homework. As she tried to comprehend the passage she was reading, Lily glanced over at Potter. He appeared to have finished the essay and was reading a thick book about Quidditch. Rolling her eyes, Lily turned back to the textbook.

After about fifteen minutes, Potter rose from his chair and began to gather up his books. Panic filled Lily as he began to walk towards the door. Her Transfiguration essay was due tomorrow and she had barely understood the material. She couldn't possibly write it before class tomorrow by herself. In her six years at Hogwarts, Lily had never missed a deadline. She was always prepared and always did her homework. How could she face McGonagall without her essay?

"Potter, wait," Lily called.

The bespectacled boy turned around at her voice.

"What's up, Evans?"

"It's the essay. I…I don't understand it. Could you help me?"

"That's all? Sure, I can help you," Potter said.

For the next two hours, Potter patiently explained the Transfiguration homework to Lily and helped her complete her essay. Even though she was near the top of the class, Transfiguration was not Lily's best subject and Potter ended up scratching out and rewriting a great deal of the pitiful essay she had written. As Lily watched him work, she felt a new sense of appreciation for the boy. Even though she had hated him since their first day on the Hogwarts Express, Potter was still willing to spend the time helping her with her homework.

"There. I think you're finally done," Potter said with a sigh of relief.

"Thank you so much," Lily said, sincerely. "I don't know what I would have done without your help."

"I know. You're Lily Evans. You always turn everything in on time," he replied with a chuckle.

At that point, Madam Pince, the librarian, ushered them out into the corridor as she closed the library. Pulling their book bags over their shoulders, James and Lily began the long walk towards Gryffindor Tower.

"So…," Lily started, thinking of something to say. "how did Meredith manage to form a study group with you?"

Potter sighed. "I have no idea. I was doing homework and your friend plopped down next to me out of the blue and started chattering away. I think she mentioned something about tutoring her and…," he stopped and shook his head, "after that, I lost her."

Lily laughed. "She can be a little crazy sometimes, but she's not all that bad."

"I'm sure you would know; you've been friends with her for six years."

Lily nodded and looked at the portraits lining the walls. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw that Potter had taken an interest in the grounds visible from the windows, lining the other side of the corridor. After several minutes of awkward silence, they turned down the hall which ended at the Fat Lady's Portrait.

"James…," Lily started uneasily.

Potter raised his eyebrows at this change.

"Are you sick, Evans?" he asked.

"No, I'm fine. I just want to tell you again how grateful I am that you took the time to help me with my essay tonight. I've also been thinking…now that we're both Heads, it would probably make more sense for me to call you 'James.' After six years of animosity, you probably deserve to be called by your first name."

"Thanks," he said with a nod.

"I also give you permission to call me 'Lily.'"

James smiled at this remark. "That's good. I was going to ask you about that. After last year, you had made it clear that I was to never call you anything except 'Evans' unless you said otherwise. And then according to you, you would have completely lost your mind."

Lily blushed at the memory. In past years, she had never gotten along with him very well. In fact, most of their conversations ended with her yelling at him.

"Just remember, though, that if you get cocky about it—" Lily said.

"Don't worry, Lily, I won't," James replied.

By that time they had arrived at the common room.

"Good night, Lily," James said as he started up the staircase to the boys' dormitories.

"Good night, James."

Lily watched him until he disappeared out of sight. _James…James…James. _That felt so much different to her than his surname—different but in a good way.

*****

Despite the fact that she had stayed up late with James, Lily woke up early the next morning. She had had fun studying and chatting with James the previous night. He hadn't been annoying and cocky nor distant and stolid. Though they were not really friends, they had reached a sort of unspoken agreement to act kinder towards each other.

After the sun rose, Lily got out of bed, showered, dressed, and headed to the Great Hall for breakfast. Because it was fairly early and there were few people, Lily sat down at the Gryffindor table alone and began buttering a piece of toast.

Suddenly, someone came up from behind and covered her eyes. Lily turned around quickly to find Meredith standing, still in her lilac pajama bottoms with her hands on her hips.

"Hey, Meredith. I thought you were Kelly for a second," said Lily with a smile. "At least you aren't James."

"Since when have you been calling him 'James?'" Meredith replied, raising an eyebrow.

"Since last night," answered Lily.

"Oh," Meredith said coolly, rolling her eyes. "I bet you two had a lot of fun last night."

"What? Why would you say that?" asked Lily, bewildered.

"James specifically kicked me out last night so he could spend time with you. First, Kelly and Andy and now you! Before I know it, you two will be snogging in the common room." She stopped to take a deep breath, looking on the brink of tears. "You know how important he is to me, Lily!" she whispered vehemently.

"Meredith, what are you talking about?" said Lily, pulling Meredith onto the bench next to her. "James and I are barely even_ friends_ and nothing more. You are being unreasonable. I'm not standing in the way of you and your precious James. You're doing that just fine by yourself!"

As soon as the words came out of her mouth, Lily regretted them. Tears began to run down Meredith's shocked face and, as she left the table, she purposely ran into Lily with her shoulder.

Remorse flooded Lily as she watched her friend storm out of the Great Hall. Lily couldn't believe what she had done. Over the past six years, she and Meredith had been best friends and seldom argued. She should have known that Meredith would be jealous and she shouldn't have worsened things.

Out of the corner of her eye, Lily saw the Marauders enter the Great Hall. James gave her a wide grin and walked over to where she was sitting.

"No, I can't sit with him," Lily thought. "I can't disregard Meredith's feelings entirely." She made to get up and leave the hall, but was intercepted by James.

"What's wrong, Lily?" he asked with concern, noticing the hurt look on the redhead's face.

Lily did not look at him. Already, tears began to form in her eyes from her argument with Meredith and she couldn't stop them. "Not now," she whispered to James before hurrying out of the Great Hall.

She could hear James calling her name as she left, but she chose to ignore them. Instead, she kept on running until she reached the Gryffindor common room and once there, she threw herself onto the couch and cried.

Moments later, Lily heard the portrait hole open and she looked up to see James.

"Go away," she said with a sob.

"I'm not going to go away until you tell me what's wrong, Lily." He sat down in an armchair across from her and looked into her eyes. "I can't remember seeing you this upset over something I didn't do."

She managed half of a smile. "Why should I tell you? It's none of your business, anyways."

"Lily," James said, looking into her emerald eyes. "Maybe talking about it will make you feel better. Besides, I want to know if something is wrong with you. After all, I am your partner Head."

"Fine," Lily sighed. "It's Meredith. She's upset with me because…well, because of you. She likes you a lot."

"Yeah. I'm aware of that. Don't let her bother you," replied James.

"She's jealous that I spent time _studying_ with you of all things…" Lily hesitated and stared at the floor. "She thinks we're going to end up like Kelly and Andy and she'll be left out," Lily finished.

James' eyes widened. "Oh. Well…I …uh…"

"I tried to explain to her that we're barely even friends but she won't listen," Lily continued.

James nodded, staring at the floor.

She looked at James and gave him an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry that you have to deal with this."

"Oh, that's all right," he said with a chuckle.

Lily glanced at the clock on the mantle and bent down to grab her bag.

"We should probably get going if we want to be on time to class," she said, standing up.

"Lily, wait," James said, rising from the armchair.

Lily turned around and looked at him. His eyes met hers and he gave her a small smile.

"Are you sure you're going to be okay?" he asked, looking concerned.

"Yeah," she said, a smile playing on her lips.

"Well, if you ever need to talk about anything, you know I'm there for you."

Lily hesitated, and then walked over to James and gave him a hug.

"That's good to know."


	8. Hogsmeade

As Halloween approached, an announcement about the first Hogsmeade trip of the year was posted in the common room. It was a cold and wet afternoon and Lily was sitting in an armchair watching the excited third years gathering about the bulletin board.

She remembered her first trip into Hogsmeade very well. She had gone with Kelly, Meredith, and Andy and had gotten lost after spending barely half an hour in the village. They had gone into Zonkos Joke Shop and Lily had decided to hide behind a large display of Muggle magic tricks and scare her friends when they walked past. Instead, they had left without her and she spent the next hour wandering the village, searching for her friends. To this day they still teased her about that.

She had also had many good memories in the wizard village. Throughout the past several years, she had spent hours wandering around aimlessly with Kelly, Andy, and Meredith. There had also been days spent touring Hogsmeade with various boyfriends. In 5th year, she had even gotten her first kiss from a Ravenclaw prefect in Madam Puddifoot's tea shop.

On this rainy afternoon, she was writing an essay about Felix Felicis for Professor Slughorn. She had just finished her conclusion when James came in carrying muddy and sopping wet Quidditch robes from practice.

"Hey, Prongs," called Sirius Black from the couch across the room. Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew were sitting near him playing a game of Exploding Snap.

"Hey, guys. How are you, Lily?" He nodded to her as he sat down on the couch next to Sirius.

"I'm fine. I've got lots of homework, but what's new?" She smiled at him. "How was practice?"

"Wet, cold, and very windy. One of the new third years almost fell off his broom."

Lily gasped. "Oh, no." She glanced around the room. "Did Andy and Meredith come in too?"

"No, I heard them say they're going to the Great Hall to have a late lunch." His eyes flickered to the bulletin board on the wall behind Lily. "So, Lily, there's a Hogsmeade trip coming up this weekend. If you're not busy, do you want to go with me?"

Lily noticed that despite his effort to sound casual about it, he still sounded nervous.

She tapped her pencil against her chin, thinking of how to phrase her answer. Even though James had been very nice to her lately, she didn't want to encourage anything more than a friendship.

"That's really nice of you, James, but I was planning on going with Kelly, Andy, and Meredith."

James' face fell but he recovered quickly. "I thought you and Meredith had a row?"

"We did, but Kelly thinks if we go together, we'll make up. Besides, the four of us haven't spent any quality time together in a long time."

"I understand. You're friends are important to you."

*****

That Saturday after breakfast, Lily, Kelly, Andy, and Meredith, along with most of the school, headed down to Hogsmeade. Fortunately, the weather was nice for the Hogsmeade trip. Although it was cool, the sun was out and she only needed a light jacket.

At the entrance to the village, Lily spotted James and the Marauders starting in the direction of Zonko's Joke Shop. She caught his eye and he gave her a small smile before turning back to his friends.

"Where should we go first?" asked Kelly.

"How about The Three Broomsticks?" suggested Lily.

"Okay," agreed Andy, putting his arm around Kelly's shoulder.

Meredith rolled her eyes. "If that's where Lily wants to go,"

With that, the four made their way through the crowd of Hogwarts students towards The Three Broomsticks. Once there, they all ordered butterbeer and sat down in a large booth. Meredith, Lily noticed, made sure to sit as far away from her as possible.

"I think we should go to Honeydukes after this and then maybe visit Zonko's. That is assuming Lily doesn't get lost again," Andy said with a chuckle.

"Andy!" Lily protested. "That was four years ago. Do you really need to bring that up again?"

Andy laughed. "I'll tell you what, if we can go to Zonko's after this, I'll make an honest effort not to tease you about that again."

Lily groaned. "Do we really have to go there? I'd much rather walk around Hogsmeade than spend an hour in a joke shop. Besides, do you even need anything there?"

"Don't mind her, Andy," Meredith said, coolly. "She really does want to go to Zonko's so she can see her boyfriend but she doesn't want to admit it."

"What are you talking about, Meredith?" asked Andy, confused.

"Andy, don't listen to her," Lily said. "She's just really jealous that James would rather spend time with me than her."

"Are you going out with him?" Andy asked.

"No! We're barely even friends. Now let's just forget this. It's not even important."

"Four butterbeers!"

Lily, Kelly, Andy, and Meredith turned. Madam Rosmerta had arrived at their table, bearing a tray holding four butterbeers.

"Thank you," said Kelly as they took their drinks from the tray.

"So, just to confirm, Lily is not going out with James," Andy said, taking a sip from his drink after Madam Rosmerta had left.

"No and nor will I ever," said Lily becoming aggravated.

Meredith rolled her eyes. "I wouldn't count on it."

"Meredith, why does this even matter right now? You're just ruining the Hogsmeade trip," Lily replied.

"I agree. Meredith and Lily, I had hoped that by coming to Hogsmeade, you two would make up," Kelly said.

"Me too," said Lily, angrily. "Meredith, I'm sorry for overreacting about James and I agree that I may have been exaggerating a bit that day at breakfast but—"

"Lily, I don't want to hear it. You don't mean that. Look, it's not even ten o'clock and we're already arguing. Why don't you just go find James and leave us alone?"

Lily dropped her jaw in indignation. "I think I will!"

Furious at Meredith, Lily got up from the table and stormed out of the pub.

"Lily!" she heard Kelly call.

Lily turned around and saw her friend running towards her.

"Please come back," she said grabbing Lily's arm. "Meredith's just upset and I'm sure she didn't mean what she said."

Lily looked into Kelly's pleading brown eyes and hesitated for a second before throwing off her friend's arm. She strode into the crowd, trying to distance herself as far as possible from her friends. She couldn't believe Meredith. The girl who used to be one of her best friend's had become so jealous and unreasonable that they could not even spend a day in Hogsmeade without arguing.

With no place to go, Lily wandered around the village aimlessly, passing cheerful classmates and couples. She certainly could not go back to her friends after the huge blowout she had just had and she was in no mood to see the Marauders. Though she was sure they would cheer her up, she did not want to run the risk of meeting James.

As the afternoon rolled around, the sun hid behind the clouds and it became much cooler. Lily zipped up her jacket and made her way up to the Shrieking Shack. She had already toured the entire village and decided that taking the more secluded path to the Shrieking Shack would give her an opportunity to sort out her thoughts.

As she approached the Shack, Lily saw a lone figure in the distance. A bit taken aback by this, Lily faltered until she saw the figure turn around. Of course it just had to be James.

"What are you doing up here?" he called to her.

"I could ask you the same thing," she said, walking toward him.

"I come up here a lot," he said nonchalantly. "It gives me a chance to be alone and think. Plus, there's a pretty good view from up here."

"What?" Lily asked, looking around. "There's nothing here except that old Shack."

James shook his head. "Follow me."

He led Lily through the clump of trees behind the Shrieking Shack. They stepped out onto a fairly large ledge and Lily's jaw dropped.

"I never knew this was here," she said, awestruck.

From the ledge, Lily could see the surrounding scenery of Hogwarts. Far off to the right, she could see the dark green mass of the Forbidden Forrest and a couple of Hogwarts' highest towers. In front of her, the steep ledge declined into a vast sea of green. The valley was spotted with clumps of trees and patches of wildflowers and was divided by a small stream. In the distance, Lily could see the outline of mountains, wrapping around the valley, the forest, and Hogwarts. To Lily, it looked like a painting or even like a picture out of a Muggle storybook. She had no idea that this hidden valley was so close to the school.

"Wow. James, it's beautiful!"

"Yeah, it's really something. The boys and I like to come up here a lot."

Suddenly remembering her earlier decision to avoid James, Lily turned to go back through the trees.

"So why were you up here, Lily?" he asked her. "Why aren't you with Andy, Kelly, and Meredith?"

Lily stopped walking and turned around to face him.

"Meredith and I had another fight so I left my friends."

She turned back around to leave when James spoke again.

"That's too bad. What happened?"

Lily sighed and walked back to where James was standing, gazing out at the landscape. He obviously wanted to talk to her and was not about to let her leave.

"She's still upset about you and took her anger out on me. I just didn't want to deal with her for the rest of the day so I left."

James nodded his head, sitting down on the ground. "That makes sense. I'm sure after she's had an hour or so to calm down, things will be back to normal."

Lily sat down beside him and looked at him incredulously. "I highly doubt that."

"Why not?" asked James. "Whenever my friends and I disagree on something, we give each other some space for a while and then act like it never happened."

"But you're a boy. It's not that easy for girls."

James shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know what else I can tell you, then."

Lily turned her head away from James at that moment and focused on the mountains in the distance. The sky had darkened quite a bit in the last few minutes and she could only discern the outline of the highest peaks. Sighing, her thoughts went back to her argument with Meredith from earlier that day. It hurt Lily to see her friend that upset, especially over such a trivial thing as a boy.

"Lily," said James, placing his hand lightly on her shoulder.

She turned back to him and looked into his hazel eyes.

"I know you're really concerned about Meredith, but don't let her bother you. You're a pretty great person and I doubt she'll be able to stay mad at you for that long."

"Thanks, James," she said, giving him a smile.

"I'm glad I could help."

Suddenly, lightening flashed across the sky. Lily and James glanced at each other and then up at the sky. Droplets of rain began to fall, and as thunder boomed in the distance, they hurriedly headed back to Hogsmeade.

**A/N: Hope you liked it! Feel free to leave a review. I'd love to hear what you thought! Thanks, ~Julia~**


	9. Surprises

As thunder boomed and lightening flashed, James and Lily hurried down the path to the Shrieking Shack into the village. The street was crowded with people milling about in the rain and they were quickly getting soaked. Lily's clothes were sticking to her and her hair was drenched and James, she noticed, did not look too much better.

"You look like you just fell in the lake," Lily told James, as they made their way through the crowd.

"You do too," he replied with a smile. "I have an idea. Follow me."

Before she could answer, James grabbed her hand and pulled her off the road into Honeydukes.

"Why are we going in here?" Lily asked. "I thought —"

"Shh," he said, holding a finger to his lips.

James navigated through the crowd of witches and wizards to the back of the sweet shop. He glanced around and then opened a door, which Lily could see led into the cellar.

Once they descended the staircase, James let go of her hand and walked over to a large pile of boxes.

"Could you help me move some of these, Lils?"

"Sure, but why—"

"It's a secret passage."

At her bewildered look, James smiled.

"Have you ever heard of Hogwarts' secret passages?" he asked, lifting a box of Honeydukes specialty chocolate out of the way.

"Well, I've heard of them, after all I am a seventh year, but I always thought they were just rumors."

"Lily, Lily, Lily," James said shaking his head, pretending to be disappointed. He pushed a large box of chocolate frogs out of the way and stepped aside for Lily to see the trapdoor on the floor. It blended in so well with the floor and was covered with dust that at first she did not see it.

"What do you think of that?" he asked, beaming proudly.

Before she could respond, James bent down and lifted the trapdoor, which revealed a small, dark hole.

"You think we can get back to Hogwarts by means of this rabbit hole?" Lily asked incredulously.

James nodded. "I know we can get back. My friends and I discovered these paths first year…with a bit of help from Filch of course."

He looked at Lily's doubtful expression and reached for her hand again. "Come on, it's not that bad," he said reassuringly. "You're with me. What could possibly go wrong?"

James descended a flight of stairs that led into the hole, pulling Lily behind him. Once they were fully in the passage, James shut the trap door and they were in complete darkness.

"James," Lily moaned. "Are you sure about this?"

"Positive," he replied. "Lumos."

She lit her wand as well and saw that they were in a very narrow, low, earthy passage. It felt very claustrophobic and the air was dank and cold and as they set off on the circuitous path, Lily kept a firm grip on James' hand. Finally, after what seemed like an hour of walking, the path gradually began to rise and they reached a stone trapdoor.

James pulled a piece of parchment from his pocket, examined it, and the pointed his wand at the stone.

"Dissendium," he said. The stone instantly leapt aside, and formed a fairly large opening.

James climbed out first and then offered Lily his hand to help her out. As Lily gripped his arm and clambered out of the hole, she slipped and fell into James' arms.

"You okay?" James asked, helping a blushing Lily to her feet.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Thanks."

Abruptly her stomach growled loudly.

"I guess you're hungry," James said with a smile. "Shall we go downstairs for dinner?"

"Sure, that would be great," she replied a giggle.

With that, James and Lily made their way down the corridor and Grand Staircase to the Great Hall. Before they entered however, Lily turned to James.

"Let's go in separately. My friends already think we're an item and I wouldn't want to encourage them anymore."

James hesitated for a moment before replying, "Sure, if that's what you want, I can wait a few minutes."

"Thanks, James," Lily said, giving him a smile before she went into the Great Hall.

"Hey, Lily," said Andy as Lily sat down at the Gryffindor table.

"How was your day in Hogsmeade?" Andy asked.

"It was okay. What about you—hey, where's Meredith?"

Andy and Kelly exchanged glances.

"Well, after you left we went to Honeydukes and Meredith started talking with Sean Macmillan. When we were ready to leave, she told us to go on without her and as far as we know she spent the rest of the day with him."

Kelly looked over at the Hufflepuff table and Lily followed her gaze. Meredith was sitting with Sean Macmillan, laughing at something he had said. She seemed to be enjoying herself, Lily noticed, occasionally running her hand through her hair and resting her hand on his.

"Looks like she got over James fast," Lily said.

"I'm not so sure about that," Kelly replied. "She may just feel lonely now that the object of her affections and her best friend are ignoring her. But who know, she may really like Sean."

Lily shrugged her shoulders and turned back to her meal. About fifteen minutes later, after Lily was almost finished eating, James finally entered the Great Hall. To Lily's dismay, though, Olivia Brooks and a couple of other girls were trailing behind him. James sat down across from Lily and her friends and the girls began to pepper him with questions.

"James, can I come to your practice? I would absolutely _love _to watch you play."

"James, I will never be able to pass my O.W.L.S. Could you tutor me in Transfiguration? I heard you're pretty good."

Waving off the girls, James caught Lily's eye and gave her a pleading look.

"James, you're hair looks so good when it's tousled," said Olivia, reaching over to play with James' hair. "I'm sure I could help you out if you went to Slughorn's Halloween party with me."

Before James could reply, the other two girls protested and asked James to go with them. Then, out of the blue Lily blurted out, "He's already going to Slughorn's party with me."

Everyone went quiet and looked at Lily in utter amazement. Kelly's jaw dropped and Andy raised his eyebrows but their reactions were nothing compared with James's.

"W-what did you say, Lily?" he asked with wide eyes. He was in complete shock and appeared unaware of anything else in the world besides her.

Lily turned beet red and cast her eyes down at her empty dinner plate. She had no idea why she said that. She had not been planning to ask James to Slughorn's party nor had she even planned to attend herself. In past years, she had gone with boys in the "Slug Club" who invited her but she never had a good time. Last year, to Slughorn's dismay, she had not attended a single one of his get-togethers. Looking up again, she saw that Olivia and the two other girls looked very angry. Then she met James' eyes and knew her answer. Inviting James to Slughorn's party did not mean they were a couple or that anything would happen between them. They would just go as friends.

After repeating herself, Lily watched in satisfaction as the three girls turned red and stormed off.

James looked at her incredulously. "Are you sure about this?" he asked cautiously.

"Sure. It's not a date. We'll just be going as friends."

* * *

**Hope you liked it! Please leave a review. They really motivate me to write more and update faster. =]**


	10. Slug Club

"Lily, hurry up! We're already late to the party," Kelly called through the bathroom door.

"What time is it?" asked Lily, who was attempting to tame her long red hair.

"We have to leave now," Kelly answered. "Meredith left with Sean half an hour ago and the boys are waiting for us."

"Okay, I guess I'm ready," said Lily. She slipped a barrette into her hair and left the bathroom.

"Wow, Lily. Are you trying to impress someone?" Kelly teased, raising her eyebrows as Lily came into the bedroom. Lily's form-fitting green dress clearly eclipsed Kelly's simple blouse and skirt.

Lily blushed slightly but protested in indignation. "I'm not wearing anything special."

"If you say so," Kelly said as they left their dormitory.

After they had descended the staircase, the two girls found Andy waiting for them alone.

"Where are the others?" Lily asked as Andy put his arm around Kelly's waist.

"Remus wasn't feeling too well so James, Sirius, and Peter took him to the Hospital Wing. James said he and Sirius would meet you at the party."

"Sirius was invited, too?" Lily asked, surprised, as they climbed through the portrait hole and started down the corridor.

"He has a date," explained Andy.

Lily rolled her eyes. Everyone knew that Sirius would not have been invited to a "Slug Club" party without having a date. Even though he was smart enough to be in the N.E.W.T. Potions class and could concoct a decent potion if he wanted to, he was not one of Slughorn's favorite students. He usually partnered up with infatuated girls who tended to do most of the potion-making while Sirius joined James in causing mayhem in the classroom. Just last week he had managed to slip an unknown ingredient into his potion, which exploded and left the room smelling like onions for days.

To Lily, the walk to Slughorn's office seemed to take much longer than she remembered. Though Kelly and Andy tried to make small talk with her, they always reverted back into lapses of silence. Furthermore, seeing Andy and Kelly walk with their arms around each other made Lily feel like a third wheel. Each time they found their conversation dying her thoughts would stray to James and what he and the other Marauders were doing. Over the past month it had become easier and easier to talk to James and even to the other Marauders. Ironically enough, Lily found herself wishing she had James to talk to at that moment rather than her best friends.

A little after eight, Lily, Kelly, and Andy arrived at Slughorn's office where they found the party in full gear. The room was very cramped and noisy and Lily quickly separated from Kelly and Andy as she made her way through the crowd, looking for James.

"Lily! How are you?"

The redhead turned around to see a very large man grinning from ear to ear and looking very odd in his orange suit and black bowler hat.

"Good evening, Professor," replied Lily, glancing around for anyone she knew so she could excuse herself.

"I am thrilled that you came tonight, Lily," boomed Slughorn. "I always enjoy it when my best students come to my little get-togethers. That draught of peace potion you made today in class was outstanding by the way. Did you happen to bring anyone with you tonight?"

"Uhh…I'm supposed to meet James Potter but I haven't found—"

"Potter? I just saw him a moment ago," said Slughorn, looking around the room. "Well, we can't have you standing here all alone. I'm sure the boy's around here somewhere."

With that, Slughorn grabbed Lily's arm and pulled her into the crowd.

"Professor, this really isn't necessary. I'm quite capable of finding him by myself," Lily protested as they squeezed between two large witches, but Slughorn did not seem to hear her. Soon enough, however, he found James, Sirius, and Sirius's date gathered around the punch bowl.

"There you go, Lily. I've found your date for you," Slughorn announced.

"Oh, he's not my d—" Lily started but Slughorn had already disappeared into the crowd again. She looked over at the boys, who were looking at her curiously.

"What was that about?" asked James.

She shrugged her shoulders. "No idea."

"He just wants to make sure his little Potions princess is taken care of," said Sirius jokingly. He took a last sip from his glass of punch and then put his arm around his date's waist. "Vanessa and I will leave you two alone now," he said with a wink. Then he leaned over to James and Lily and added quietly, "We've got an appointment with that dark corner over there."

James chuckled at Sirius' bluntness while Lily just shook her head. Sirius' behavior was not surprising for he had been this way for years. He was a heartthrob at Hogwarts and almost always had a girlfriend. James, on the other hand, was very popular among the girls, too, but did not date as much as Sirius did. Instead he had chosen to spend the last six years pursuing Lily.

Lily looked over at James, recalling how arrogant and annoying he had been in the past and how she had often wished he would disappear forever. For some reason, she couldn't remember exactly why she had so strongly disliked him.

"Do you want something to drink?" James asked, waving his hand towards the punch bowl.

"No, I'm not thirsty, but I am a bit hungry. What do they have to eat here?" Lily replied.

"Well," began James making his way down the refreshments table. "There are bite-size ham sandwiches, strawberries, apples, grapes, treacle tart, chocolate éclairs, oh, and look, Slughorn managed to get some of Honeydukes' specialty chocolate!"

Lily made a face at the last option. James stared at her in bewilderment.

"You don't like Honeydukes' chocolate?" he asked, astounded.

"I don't hate it. I just don't particularly enjoy it," Lily explained.

"You might as well have told me you hated Quidditch," James continued. "I don't know if I can be friends with you anymore." He shook his head, pretending to be disappointed, but a smile spread across his face and Lily knew he was teasing her.

"I will have a bowl of strawberries, though," Lily said, reaching over to spoon the fruit into a bowl.

"No, allow me," James said, taking the spoon from her. "I am your date after all."

"James, it's just strawberries. I can get them myself."

"I know. Still, let me get them for you."

James spooned out a bowl of strawberries for Lily and treacle tart for himself and motioned for the two to sit down at a nearby table to eat.

"So, are there any other foods you don't like that I should be aware of?" asked James, giving her a smile.

"No, not really. I like most other foods. What about you?"

The raven-haired boy thought for a moment and then shook his head. "I like everything and will eat anything."

"Anything?" asked Lily, raising her eyebrows.

"Yup. How else would I have grown so much over the summer?"

"Yeah, I did notice that you've gotten a lot taller since last year." She hesitated before adding, "You look good."

"You do, too, Lily. I didn't say it earlier, but you look really pretty tonight."

Lily felt herself cheeks turn pink and she quietly thanked him as she looked down at her strawberries. So, he _had_ noticed. She had debated with herself what to wear to the party for the longest time and had finally chosen to wear her newest green dress, which she knew accentuated her emerald eyes. She didn't know why she had chosen the dress, but something inside her wanted to look her best in front of James.

Eating her last strawberry, Lily tucked her hair behind her ear and looked towards the center of the room. The loud and upbeat music had been replaced by a slower song and several couples were dancing. She saw that one of these couples was Andy and Kelly and she smiled to herself.

"Lily."

Lily turned and looked at James. He gave her a small smile and cocked his head slightly towards the dance floor.

"Would you like to dance with me?"

At his question, Lily felt her heartbeat quicken. Her first instinct was to say "yes" but part of her remembered the last six years and how arrogant and annoying he had been. She was having a good time with James but she wanted to make clear that there was nothing more than friendship between them.

"I guess one dance couldn't hurt…just as friends though, right?"

James' face fell ever so slightly and then he nodded. "Of course. It's only as friends."

Together, they left their seats and walked to where the couples were dancing. She looked at James and awkwardly placed her hand on his shoulder. He took a step closer to her and slowly slipped his arm around her waist. At his touch, Lily felt her cheeks flush and she looked away.

"Come on, I'm not going to kiss you or anything. You can take my other hand," James teased.

Suddenly, Lily became aware of her other hand hovering close to her body and then embarrassedly took James' hand.

A few moments went by in silence before James spoke.

"I can't honestly be that bad of a dancer, can I? You look so uptight."

"No, you're not a bad dancer. I just…I…"

"Just relax. It's just a dance." He gave her an encouraging smile and Lily felt her body loosen a bit. He was right; dancing was not that big of a deal.

As the singer ended the song on a long low note, another slow dancing song began. Only slightly aware of her surroundings now, Lily felt James let go of her hand and slip his other hand around her waist. Her hand joined her other hand around his neck and as she moved closer to James, she caught the smell of his cologne.

They danced in silence for most of the song, enjoying each other's presence, until over James' shoulder, Lily spotted Meredith and Sean walking over to where they were dancing. Her heart rose up in her throat. If Meredith saw Lily dancing with James, she would think that they were an item for sure. Not only would she be upset, but she would be even angrier at Lily for lying to her about her relationship.

"Lily?" James asked suspiciously, raising his eyebrows. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Excuse me while I go to the bathroom, okay?"

Pulling away from James, Lily dashed into the crowd but in her haste she collided into Kelly.

"Excuse me, Kelly," Lily said, trying to move past her friend. Kelly, though, took in Lily's flustered appearance and grabbed Lily by the arm.

"Lily, what's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong. I was just going to use the bath…" Lily faltered at Kelly's raised eyebrows.

"Lily, I'm not stupid. After being your best friend for six years, I know when something is bothering you." Then Kelly gave Lily a small smile and spoke in a gentler tone, "Talk to me, Lils. What's wrong?"

"Fine. It's nothing really important though. I was dancing with James and—"

"Whoa, what did you say? You were dancing with _James_?" Kelly's eyes danced with amusement and she wore an 'I told you so' smirk.

"Kelly, do you want to hear the rest of the story or not?" protested a blushing Lily.

"Fine, I won't interrupt again."

Lily described her dance with James up to the point where Meredith and Sean appeared.

"And…," said Kelly, looking a bit disappointed at Lily's anticlimactic story. "Did Meredith come over and talk to you?"

"No. She didn't even see us, or at least I don't think she did. I left as soon as I saw her."

Kelly was silent for a few moments before replying, gently, "Lily, are you sure you're not just feeling guilty about having feelings for James when Meredith likes him?"

Lily dropped her jaw. "Kelly! You know I don't like him! We're only friends, if that!"

"Hmm, I don't know. From what you just told me, it sounded like you were enjoying dancing with him," teased Kelly. "But I will tell you that Meredith seemed pretty content with Sean so if I were you, I'd try to find James again. He's probably looking for you."

With Kelly's encouragement, Lily made her way back through the crowd until she spotted a boy with dark and untidy hair standing with his dark-haired friend, who had his arm around his date. Smiling to herself, she started to walk towards James, Sirius, and his date until a petite blonde girl came into view. Olivia Brooks was standing with the boys, twisting a strand of hair with her finger and smiling broadly.

Seeing this, Lily stopped dead in her tracks. Sirius had apparently told a joke and Olivia was hunched over laughing. When she stood up again, she wiped her eyes and placed her hand on James' shoulder for support. James was turned away from her so Lily could not see his face, but she saw him lean over and whisper something to Olivia which set her off in another fit of laughter.

"Why didn't he come after me?" thought Lily, her mind racing. "Would he really rather spend his time with that dumb blonde?" Clenching her fists and fighting off unexpected tears, Lily turned around and ran out of Slughorn's office.

Once she had left the party, Lily aimlessly wandered the halls until she found an empty classroom where she could be alone with her thoughts. Even after seeing James show an interest in the small, flirtatious sixth year, Lily could not seem to get the bespectacled boy out of her head. Though it was awkward and uncomfortable at first, she remembered how much she _had_ enjoyed dancing with him. The music, his smell, and the way she could block out the rest of the world and all her problems in it…

Suddenly, Lily heard footsteps and a voice outside the classroom. Rising from the chair she was sitting in, she tentatively walked over to the door and peeked out the small window and saw Peter Pettigrew walking down the hall muttering to himself. Quietly, she opened the door and caught a few words of what he was saying.

"'_Slug Club!' _How could I not have been invited? I'm smart, I'm responsible." He looked at his watch. "Merlin, they better not be late! They're probably in there snogging girls. Moony will have already transformed by now! Oh, there you are!"

Lily took a step back into the classroom so as not to reveal her presence but could also still watch. James and Sirius appeared from around the corner and greeted Peter.

"Sorry we're a bit late, Wormy. Prongs couldn't keep his hands off of Brooks!"

"No!" said James, indignantly. "_She_ couldn't keep her hands off of _me_!"

Sirius rolled his eyes. "Same thing. Did your small brain wonder what happened to Evans, though?"

"Lily," whispered James, his eyes widening. "I've got to find her. If she saw me with Olivia, she'll never talk to me again!"

"We don't have time for that!" whispered Peter. "And keep your voice down or someone will hear us."

With that, James pulled a silvery cloak out of his pocket and tossed it over the three boys and, to Lily's surprise, they disappeared. For a moment, she thought they had apparated but then she reminded herself that no one could apparate on Hogwarts grounds.

Looking more carefully at the spot where the boys had disappeared, Lily saw a single foot.

"Wormtail, can you transform now? My foot is sticking out," a voice whispered.

Curious at the cloak the boys were hidden under, Lily emerged from the classroom and followed the sound of their whispers. What could the boys be doing and why were they hiding under an Invisibility Cloak? Her first thought was that they were playing a prank or sneaking off to the kitchen to get food but a part of her felt that this was something more than Marauder jokes.

Lily was able to follow the boys' footsteps and whispers all the way out of the castle. Once they reached the grounds, the boys threw off the cloak and met Madam Pomfrey, who was accompanying a pale and sickly looking Remus.

Quickly finding a hiding spot behind a tree, Lily attentively watched the boys leave the nurse and make their way down to the Whomping Willow tree. A small rat jumped out of Sirius' arms and scurried over to press a large knot at the base of the tree which froze the attacking branches. Sirius, James, and Remus quickly slipped under the tree while Lily sat dumbfounded in her hiding place.

What were the boys doing under the Whomping Willow? How had they known how to freeze the ferocious tree's branches? Was Peter Pettigrew an Animagus? An infinite flow of questions racked Lily's brain. She had seen Madam Pomfrey bring Remus outside. Did other faculty members know about the excursions during the night? Should she alert a teacher that she had followed the boys and seen them slip beneath the Whomping Willow? The responsible, Head Girl part of Lily debated with her curiosity but in the end, she decided to stay behind her tree and wait for the boys to come out.

Fifteen minutes passed and Lily began to doze. It was getting late and she was sure that her friends were looking for her. Gazing up at the full moon, Lily was about to get up to go back to the castle when she heard a noise from the Whomping Willow.

She turned towards the enormous tree and saw the tiny rat reemerge from under the roots. A few moments later a large black dog climbed out from beneath it followed by a magnificent stag, though she wondered how it physically managed to do so. Finally, a grisly werewolf pulled itself up and out from under the tree and let out a ringing howl into the night.

Lily dropped her jaw as she saw the four creatures run about the grounds. Could these be the four Marauders? That would explain their silly nicknames: Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs. Would that mean that Remus was the werewolf? Now that she thought about it, he usually looked very ill and missed classes about once a month.

As Lily sat in shock, taking in everything she had seen so far, she did not notice that she had been spotted. The werewolf let out another chilling howl and lunged towards her, teeth bared and saliva flying. More frightened than she had ever been in her life, Lily sat frozen to the spot. She could not seem to move from where she sat and when she saw the werewolf's jaws hovering right above her face, she could only close her eyes, cover her face, and wait to be torn to pieces.

Suddenly, she heard the sound of hooves charging and peeked through the spaces between her fingers. The stag rammed into the werewolf's ribs, throwing him several feet away from Lily. As the werewolf started to get up, the great black dog ran over to the scene and tackled the werewolf back to the ground. The werewolf fought back and the two animals were jaw to jaw, biting and clawing each other.

The stag nudged Lily and motioned for her to get on his back. Lily obliged, though her attention was still fixed on the dog and the werewolf attacking each other. As the stag galloped off, the dog broke free of the werewolf and the two animals ran off out of sight.

The stag's gallop slowed down and eventually stopped in front of the castle. Lily slid off the stag's back and watched as he transformed back into a human.

"Lily, are you alright?" James asked her concernedly, putting a hand on her shoulder.

Heart still pounding, she managed a nod.

"Are you sure? Because if you're hurt, I'm sure Sirius can handle Moony for a little bit while I take you to the—"

"James," interrupted Lily, holding up a hand. "I'm fine. Just…I'm just…"

"A little shaken up?" he finished for her.

She nodded, giving him a small smile.

"Well, I guess you should probably head back and get some rest. I'll see you tomorrow, Lily," James said as he turned to head back towards the Whomping Willow.

"Wait!" Lily suddenly called after him.

He turned around with a questioning look etched across his face.

Without even planning to do so, Lily leaned over and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek.

"Thanks for saving my life, James," she whispered in his ear.

As she hurried inside the castle, Lily looked back and saw James rooted to the spot with his hand over the spot where she had kissed him.


	11. Friends

When Lily arrived back at her dormitory, she was pleased to find her roommates had already returned from Slughorn's party and were asleep in their beds. Quietly, she tiptoed to her bed and had just pulled back the blankets when she heard a voice whisper her name.

Lily turned around for the source of the noise and saw Meredith propped up on her elbow in the bed next to her.

"Where were you tonight? I didn't see you at the party," Meredith whispered suspiciously.

Deciding to leave out James, Lily nonchalantly replied, "That's odd. I was there. I wonder why you didn't see me."

A small smile crept over Meredith's face. "I was with Sean."

Lily tilted her head slightly to the side. "Who's Sean?"

"He's a Hufflepuff Prefect. I only agreed to go with him so I'd have a date to the party but I ended up having a really good time." She paused at Lily's smirk and furrowed her eyebrows. "Not that I'm over James at all. Sean means nothing to me compared to James."

With that, Meredith turned to face the other way in her bed, ending the conversation and leaving Lily with a new wave of guilt.

As Lily stared at the ceiling from her four poster bed, she thought about what Meredith had said and replayed the events of the evening in her head. Why had she kissed James on the cheek? She might have given James the impression that she wanted to be more than his friend. The way she had danced with him at Slughorn's party would certainly be enough to make him think that.

Glancing over at Meredith, Lily felt her stomach clench. If anything ever happened between her and James, Meredith would be heartbroken. Lily remembered the way Meredith had written Mrs. James Potter all over her notebook just two years ago and almost laughed to herself. She would have to tell James that the kiss meant nothing and that she only wanted to be friends with him. Yes, they would only be friends, despite anything she might have felt between them that evening.

Making up her mind, Lily rolled over in her bed and finally drifted off to sleep.

CRASH!

Jolting awake, Lily sat up in bed and looked around the room to find Kelly sitting at the foot of her bed. She appeared to have just dumped out the contents of her trunk and was anxiously sorting through a pile of books, clothes, and papers.

"Kelly, _what_ are you doing?" asked Lily in annoyance. The other girls in the room also appeared to have heard the commotion and were beginning to stir.

"Kelly, go back to sleep. It's too early to be up…," moaned Marlene McKinnon from across the room.

Kelly looked at Lily with dark pleading eyes.

"I totally forgot that I have an Arithmancy test today. And on top of that, I can't find my textbook or my folder of number charts to study," she sniffed and wiped her eyes with her sleeve.

Hearing birds chirping, Lily glanced out the window and saw that the sun was beginning to rise, dimly lighting the room. Despite the fact that she had gotten to bed late the last night, Lily reached for her slippers and went to her friend.

"Don't worry. I'll help you find it."

Kelly managed a small smile.

"I'll keep looking through my things in here but I may have left it in the common room. Would you mind checking for me?"

"No problem."

Lily gave her friend a reassuring smile and then trudged down the stairs to the common room. Breakfast would not be starting for fifteen minutes but there were already a few students awake finishing homework or catching up on reading assignments. At the first glance around the room, Lily did not see Kelly's large Arithmancy textbook or her bright blue folder that she kept her notes in. She knelt down on the floor, checking to see if it may have been accidentally kicked under the couch. As she felt around in the dust, she sneezed.

"Bless you."

Sitting up and turning around, Lily saw Andy wearing a huge grin descending the stairs to the boys' dormitories.

"What are you doing down here this early?" Lily questioned.

Andy shrugged and replied, "I might ask you the same."

Lily explained the situation to Andy, who nodded with concern.

"I think I might have accidentally grabbed her things yesterday after class," said Andy calmly, reaching into his book bag. He pulled out Kelly's textbook and blue folder and gave them to Lily. "Could you run these up to her and then meet me back here? There's something I want to run by you."

Lily gave Andy a suspicious look and then ran up to her dormitory to give the book and folder to a very grateful Kelly. When she returned, she saw Andy sitting on the end of the couch closest to the fireplace, fingering a bracelet.

"Andy, what's that?" Lily said, taking a seat next to him.

Andy looked up with a smile across his face and gave the bracelet to Lily. It was a gold charm bracelet with a heart engraved with the initials, KH.

"Wow, Andy. What's the occasion? This is really nice."

"Today is our one month anniversary. Is this too much? I didn't want to get her chocolate or flowers so I got this. If it's too much for one month, I'll save it for later but I—"

"Andy," Lily interrupted, giving him back the bracelet. "It's perfect. She'll love it." Suddenly, she heard footsteps descending the girls' staircase and Andy hurriedly shoved the bracelet back into its box and put it in his bag before Kelly appeared.

"Hey, sweetheart! Guess what? I was stressed out over nothing. The test today is on chapter three, not chapter four. I know chapter three like the back of my hand!"

Kelly walked over to Andy and kissed him on the cheek. "I'm hungry. Do you want to go to breakfast now?"

Andy nodded, slung his book bag over his shoulder and took Kelly's hand. They were almost out of the portrait hole when Kelly noticed that Lily was not following them and turned around.

"Are you coming, Lils?"

"No, not right now. I still have to change out of my pajamas."

Accepting this answer, Kelly nodded and stepped out into the hall with Andy while Lily made her way up the staircase to the girls' dormitories.

By the time Lily had changed, fixed her hair, gathered her necessary books for her classes that day and made her way to the Great Hall, the room was packed with students. She took an empty seat at the end of the Gryffindor table next to her roommates, Amber Nguyen and Alice Brown, who were gossiping about Alice's new boyfriend, Frank Longbottom. As she buttered a roll, she looked down the table where James was sitting with the other Marauders. She would try to catch James after breakfast on the way to Defense Against the Dark Arts and explain to him that her kiss meant nothing.

"Lily," she heard a familiar voice call when breakfast had ended. She slung her book bag onto her shoulder and turned around to face James accompanied by the Marauders. "Why didn't you sit with us? You know we would have made room for you."

"Oh, I'm sorry, I just…"

"Is it because Prongs asked you out again, Lily?" asked Sirius with a crooked smile. "Because I told him that if he ever wants a chance to go out with—"

"Sirius! Look, there's Vanessa! I think she wants you to walk with her," James said, pointing across the room.

"Where? Where is she?" asked Sirius, momentarily losing interest in the conversation.

Lily looked from James to Sirius and giggled.

"Vanessa! Wait for me!" Sirius called across the room. Then turning back to James and Lily he said, "You got rid of me now, James, but I'll be back soon. Have fun with Evans." Sirius clapped James on the shoulder and then went to his girlfriend.

James turned to Lily and gave her an apologetic look.

"He didn't mean that, Lily. I mean, I haven't asked you…"

"I know. I was meaning to talk to you, though."

"Okay. Hey guys, would you mind giving us a little privacy?" James asked his friends.

The other boys reluctantly nodded and turned down a different hallway to go another route to class.

James looked at Lily and raised his eyebrows. "So, what did you want to talk to me about?"

Lily gazed into his hazel eyes and felt her heartbeat quicken. For some reason she couldn't remember what she had wanted to say.

"Oh, I just…," she stammered.

"Yeah?"

"I was just wondering if I could see your essay on Red Caps," she finished dully.

"Oh, that's all? Sure, I'll let you look at it," James said, reaching into his bag. "It's probably not as good as yours, though."

"Oh yeah? You've always been so great at Defense Against the Dark Arts. I'm better at Potions."

He smiled and handed her his essay.

*****

For the rest of the day, Lily felt just as awkward and uneasy around James. She had had multiple opportunities to talk to him about the night before but she could never seem to find the right words. After Defense Against the Darks she walked with him to Potions and ended up talking with him about the weather. But however embarrassed and awkward she was around him, James never seemed to mind and continued to sit with her and walk with her to class.

That night when they met to patrol the castle, Lily was determined to tell him. She would not give him any more encouragement that she wanted to be anything more than friends.

As soon as Lily and James left the common room for patrol duties, though, James was the first one to bring up the previous night.

"Lily, tell me what's bothering you. I know you're upset from last night and you've been trying to tell me about it all day. What's wrong?"

"What? Nothing's wrong at all. Why would you think that?" she lied, taken aback that he had known what was bothering her all day.

"Lily," James admonished, raising his eyebrows.

Lily sighed. "All right. Well, remember how I kissed you on the cheek last night?"

He nodded.

"It didn't mean anything. Nothing at all. I was really worried because we went to Slughorn's party together last night and danced together and I kissed you on the cheek before I left that you would expect us to become an item." She hesitated, and took a deep breath before continuing, "I never mean for us to be anything besides friends, James."

After she finished, she looked at James, who was focusing on the floor as he walked. He was silent for a few moments, taking in everything she had said before he spoke.

"Okay," he said simply.

"What?" she said, disbelievingly. "After all these years of pursuing me and vowing that you'll marry me someday, you accept friendship? You're okay with knowing that we'll never be more than friends?"

James glanced at a large painting on the wall and then nodded.

"I'm fine with that. I never thought that by kissing me on the cheek, you were implying we would be more than friends."

"Okay," Lily said with a smile. "You don't know how much better I feel now that I've got that off my chest.

"I could tell you look worried all day. I still can't believe you blew up your potion today in class. You should have seen Slughorn's face," he said with a laugh.

Lily giggled. She could always count on James to turn an awkward moment into laughter. "So…now that I know, could you tell me about being an Animagus?" she ventured.

He tapped his chin and then replied, "Well, since you already know, I don't see any harm in telling you more about it."

They climbed a set of stairs before James cleared his throat and began in a deep voice, "Once upon a time there were four boys who went to Hog—"

"James, seriously," she protested with a giggle.

"Okay, okay. Well, ever since we found out Remus was a werewolf, we wanted to help him with his transformations. For years, we worked hard and eventually taught ourselves how to become Animagi in our fifth year. Like I said, it was a lot of work but it has definitely paid off. Now every full moon, we sneak out with Moony and don't have to worry about getting bitten and becoming werewolves ourselves."

"But James! That's really dangerous! You could get seriously hurt!"

"Nah, we're alright."

"James-!"

"We can take care of ourselves..."

Lily considered that for a moment and then replied, "Yeah, I guess you're right." She hesitated and then continued. "I would love to have friends who would do that for me, who are so loyal."

"You do have loyal friends, Lily. I know from watching you and your friends for years. I am sure that Kelly and Andy would do anything for you."

"And Meredith?" Lily countered, raising her eyebrows.

"I didn't finish. Even though you might doubt it now, Meredith is still one of your best friends and I'm sure she would do anything for you, too. When you've been friends with someone for so long, you learn to trust that they'll always be there for you."

Lily smiled to herself, surprised at how loyal James was to his friends. Even though she knew the boys had been friends for years, she had no idea how close they really were.

For the next two hours, James and Lily talked comfortably about everything from their friends, to teachers and classes, to their families and pets. When they returned to Gryffindor Tower, Lily reached over and gave James a hug.

"I had a lot of fun tonight, James. I'm so glad we sorted out the friendship problem."

As she started to climb the staircase to the girls' dormitories, Lily looked back at James and was almost positive she saw a small look of hurt on the boy's face. Seeing Lily, James quickly gave her a smile and turned to go up the boys' staircase. Lily stood there for a moment slightly confused before deciding it was nothing of importance and then continued up the stairs.

*****

"Miss Evans and Mr. Potter, would you kindly pay attention?"

Lily dropped her quill with surprise and turned to face McGonagall. She had been sitting in the back row of the classroom with James, passing notes about their teacher.

"Would you care to summarize what we have been discussing for the past ten minutes, Miss Evans?" McGonagall inquired.

Lily racked her brain for something to say while watching James surreptitiously slip the parchment they had been writing on into his book bag.

"Uh…Grant's Law?" Lily tried.

"Gamp's Law," coughed James.

Before Lily could change her answer, McGonagall spoke again.

"Mr. Potter, I already know that you know Gamp's Law of Elemental Transfiguration. Miss Evans, on the other hand, does not," she said sternly. Turning to Lily, McGonagall continued, "If you do not understand Evans, it would be much better to consult with me than to pass notes with Potter."

For the rest of the class, Lily tried her hardest to pay attention and take notes but left the classroom still unsure of how to do the homework. Sure enough, that night Lily took out her notes to finish her homework and did not understand a word of it. Deciding to ask for help, she found James sitting at one of the round tables with Sirius and Remus.

"Moony, what's the difference between a Flitterbloom and Devil's Snare? I have no idea what Sprout was saying in class today," Sirius whined.

"Hey, boys," Lily said, greeting the Marauders cheerfully. "James, can you help me with the Transfiguration homework? I still don't understand it."

"Sure, just let me finish this essay for Slughorn," replied James.

Lily read a few lines over his shoulder. She had already finished the essay on antidotes a couple days ago.

"James, a bezoar is a stone from the stomach of a goat that cures most poisons, not a plant that cures hiccups!"

"Oh, well," said James, seeing his error. "The essay was terrible anyways. I'll fix it later. Now what do you need help with?"

Lily led him over to the table where she had been working. Kelly had apparently gone up to bed already because several girls occupied the table. They had pushed her things onto the floor and were gossiping animatedly.

"Excuse me, I was sitting here," Lily said to the girls.

A petite blonde with curly hair turned around looking annoyed but her face immediately broke into a smile.

"Were you two using this table? I'm so sorry," she said sweetly.

Olivia and her friends gathered their belongings and stood up to leave. As they started up the stairs to the girls' dormitories, Olivia ran her fingers through her long hair and then looked back, giving James a coy smile.

Lily glared at Olivia before turning back to James, whose eyes were also lingering in Olivia's direction.

*****

On Saturday morning, Lily was woken up early by Kelly talking in her sleep. After tossing and turning for a while, she changed and headed to the Great Hall for breakfast. Andy and James were sitting at the Gryffindor table with other members of the Quidditch team, eating breakfast.

"Hi, Lily," Andy said, smiling.

"Why are you boys up so early? I thought I would be the only one down here," Lily said.

"We've got Quidditch practice in an hour. If you're not doing anything, you can come watch us," James offered.

"I wouldn't be in the way would I?" she asked, uncertainly.

"Of course not. The Slytherin game is next weekend and we need to get used to playing in front of an audience."

"Well, I'm not much of an audience, but I guess I can come watch," Lily agreed.

After breakfast, James and Lily headed down to the Quidditch pitch together. It was a beautiful morning; birds were chirping, the sun was shining, and the sky was a clear blue. Lily glanced over at the mass of trees that made up the Forbidden Forest. They were a mixture of gold, crimson, and orange and before long they would be bare and snow would cover the ground.

Lily took a seat in the first row of the stands while James went to change into his Quidditch practice robes. Slowly, the other members of the Gryffindor Quidditch team arrived and practice started.

For the next two hours, Lily watched James conduct practice. James seemed like a very good captain. He was patient and enthusiastic and tried to make every player feel important. Lily had a feeling that he might have strived extra hard to appear this way because she was there. Several times throughout the practice she caught James glancing down at her from the air, as if to make sure she was still there.

The morning's practice went fairly well. The team played scrimmages and worked on various drills to improve their technique. Despite only having a few weeks of practice, Lily had to admit that the team had come a long way since the start of the school year. After practice, every player touched back down on the ground sweaty and exhausted.

"I think you have a pretty good chance of beating Slytherin next weekend," she mentioned to James as he took a long swig from his water bottle.

"I hope so. I wouldn't want to let Gryffindor down on my first game as captain."

"You won't. You seem like a great captain," Lily replied genuinely. She turned to Meredith and Andy who were passing by on their way to the changing rooms.

"Good job, guys! I wish I could fly like that," she said, cheerfully.

"You can. I'll teach you," said James.

Lily quickly turned around to face him. "I was kidding."

"So?"

"I haven't picked up a broom since first year," Lily said.

"It's not that hard. You'll like it. Just wait here while I change," he said giving her a smile.

"Oh, no, I'm going back to the castle," Lily said and she started to leave.

"Come on, Lily. Just try it. Andy and Meredith love flying." He quickly got in front of her to block her path, giving her a pleading look.

"Fine! Go change. You can teach me," Lily said, defeated.

Lily sat down on a nearby bench while James went to change. She instantly regretted her decision to let him teach her. She had not enjoyed flying lessons in first year and she had no desire whatsoever to learn again.

Before long, James returned with wet hair, clean clothes, and two broomsticks. He handed Lily one of the brooms with a wide grin on his face.

"Okay, you want to mount your broomstick like this," he directed, straddling the broomstick.

Lily put the broomstick between her legs and gripped tightly to the end of the handle.

"No. Your hands need to be lower down on the handle. And don't grip so tightly."

He placed his hand on top of hers and rearranged her grip. Lily was surprised at how gentle he was.

"Now, kick off hard. You're not used to it yet so you won't go too high. Just hover for a few seconds and then lean forward to land."

She looked at him uncertainly.

"Don't worry, Lils. I've been flying since I could hold a broom. I won't let you hurt yourself."

With that consolation, Lily kicked off the ground and was astonished when her broom shot several feet into the air.

"James! What do I do?"

He kicked off the ground and rose to where Lily was desperately clinging onto her broomstick.

"First off, don't panic. You're only about five feet off the ground. Second, don't hold the broom that tight. Just relax and let the broom do the work. All you really have to do is turn and keep your balance."

"That's all!" Lily exclaimed sarcastically.

"Try going a bit higher now." He rose several feet higher and looked down at Lily. "Come on, you can do it."

Reluctantly, Lily directed her broom a few feet higher.

"Follow me, now. We'll work on turning."

He began to fly around the Quidditch pitch, turning right, left, and then right again.

"This looks hard, James," Lily said.

She slowly started to follow James. As he sped up, Lily tried to speed up.

"See? You're good at flying, Lily. I bet you're having fun," James added with a laugh.

Although she didn't want to admit it, Lily _was_ having fun. Once she had gotten over the initial fear of flying, she saw why Andy, James, and Meredith had such a passion for it.

Wanting to show James how much she had progressed, Lily raced through the air, turning and twisting. The wind whipped through her hair as she increased her speed and she laughed with delight. Flying was so much fun. Why had she been so frightened before? Suddenly, Lily turned too sharply and slipped off her broomstick. She managed to grab the handle with one hand but when she looked down and saw how high she was, she panicked.

"James! Help me!" Lily screamed.

James looked over at her clinging onto her broom with one hand and his eyes widened with fear.

"Try to swing back onto the broom. I'll fly under you in case you fall."

Lily tried to climb back onto the broom but her hands were sweaty and her grip loosened. When she felt her body fall, she screamed, but instead of landing on the hard ground far beneath her, she landed in James' strong arms. Relief flooded her as she realized that she had not fallen to her death. Lily looked up at James and began to babble her thanks.

"Oh, Merlin…James, you saved me…thank you so much…never ever again."

Once they touched back down on the ground, Lily jumped off the broomstick as quick as she could.

"I can't believe you talked me into doing that. I'm never flying again."

"You weren't that bad. You just need practice."

"I might just accept that flying is not my thing."

James laughed and Lily felt a smile creep its way across her face. With the exception of nearly falling to her death, learning how to fly hadn't been that bad. James had caught her and saved her life once again.


	12. Tree House

__

Chapter 12

With a sigh of relief, Lily set down her quill and closed the huge textbook she had been consulting.

"Finally done?" a familiar voice asked.

Leaning back into her chair, Lily looked over at the boy sitting next to her and nodded. In the past couple weeks, Lily had become much closer with James and even the other Marauders, sitting with them in class and spending a lot of her free time with them.

"Good," he replied. "We can leave for patrol duties before midnight. There was something I'd—"

"Oh, James! I completely forgot we had to patrol tonight. There's still so much homework I have to do. Do you think I could get one of the prefects to—"

"Lily, Lily, calm down," James said casually, putting his hand on her shoulder. "You don't need to get anyone to cover for you. You already finished everything that's due tomorrow and probably for the day after too."

"Well…I should at least study a little for the Charms test before we go," she answered, racking her brain to remember her homework assignments.

James twitched the corner of his mouth into a crooked smile. "Lily, that test is not until Friday. Relax."

With that, he got up from his seat and headed for the portrait hole. Lily rolled her eyes at him, stacked her books into a neat pile, and followed him out of the Common Room.

"So," Lily started once they were out in the hall, "Why are you so eager to patrol the castle tonight?"

He shrugged his shoulders innocently but Lily saw through his charade.

"James, seriously. You know you're a bad liar."

He considered this for a moment before sighing. "Fine. How about we…skip patrolling tonight?" He held up a hand at Lily's astonished look. "Hear me out, Lily. Skipping duties for one night won't get us into trouble. Besides, I want to show you something."

She raised an eyebrow at him, quizzically. "What?"

"I'm not telling you. It's a surprise." Then taking her hand, he pulled her toward a flight of stairs.

"James. Really, we're Head Boy and Girl. I don't think we're supposed to take advantage of patrol duties to go gallivanting around the castle..."

Lily hesitated as he gave her an encouraging smile and she felt her heart quicken and her cheeks redden.

"It's just one night Lily," he said a little softer, gazing into her eyes with his hazel ones. In that moment Lily knew she wasn't going to win the argument. She sighed in defeat and James' face lit up.

"It'll be fun, Lils. Trust me, you won't regret it."

James flashed another grin and then turned to race down the stairs, tugging Lily along behind him.

"James, James, James!" she squealed, as they flew down the stairs. "Stop, James, stop!"

Suddenly, as they came to a landing, Lily tripped over her feet and landed hard on the floor.

"Whoa, Lily. Are you alright?" James asked, looking anxious, as he bent down.

"Yeah, I'm okay," she answered, pulling herself up into a sitting position. Then remembering the reason she fell, she frowned. "Why were you running down the stairs?"

James looked confused. "I wasn't going that fast. Is that why you fell on your face?" he asked, smirking.

Lily slapped him, playfully. "Yes that's why I fell down, Potter. I couldn't keep up with you."

"What was that?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

Lily blushed, suddenly realizing that she had called him by his surname.

"I…uh…my legs aren't as long as yours so I…" she trailed off, knowing she sounded stupid.

"Well, Miss _Evans_," he said, pulling her to her feet from under her arms, "we'll go really slow the rest of the way and I'll make _sure_ you don't fall again."

James looked over at Lily with a teasing smile and wrapped his arm around her waist.

An alarm sounded in Lily's head as James pulled her close and began down the stairs again. Quickly, she squirmed out of his arm and made her way to the bottom of the stairs before James caught up to her.

Though she could tell he was trying to keep his face composed, Lily could see a slight trace of hurt across his face. Seeing this, the retort she had been about to say flew out of her head and she stood, pressed up against the wall gawking at James.

"Do you want to see my surprise or not?" he asked, taking both her hands in his.

"James," she warned, pulling her hands out of his.

"Come on, Lily, it's not that big of a deal," he said, settling for just one of her hands.

Finally giving in, she sighed. James was obviously not going to give up. Covertly, she glanced over her shoulder, looking for teachers. She still was not too keen on skipping patrol duties, even with her curiosity about James' surprise.

James, however, noticed Lily's glance and his grin instantly turned into a frown.

"Lily, don't worry. We're not going to get in trouble. We're _Head _Boy and _Head _Girl."

"Exactly. We shouldn't—"

"_Lily!_" James said, drawing out her name. "Will you just trust me on this? For one time in your life, can you do something against the rules?"

"I have too done something against the rules before!" Lily said, indignantly.

"Like…" James replied, raising his eyebrows.

"I…well…there was that one time…" she mumbled, racking her brain for something. Then exhaling sharply she said, "Well, I can't think of anything on the spot but I can break the rules."

"Oh, can you?" James gave her a sly smile and then took off running down the hallway.

"James!" Lily called after him. "Come back! We can't run in the halls!"

Hearing this, James slowed down and turned around to look at Lily from down the hall.

"Lily Evans, you're hilarious."

Then, laughing, he took off running down the hall again, turning a corner and disappearing out of sight.

"James!" Lily called after him. There was no response. Exhaling sharply in frustration, she checked over her shoulder to make sure there were no teachers around and set off at a run to find James. As she rounded a corner, James jumped out from behind a suit of armor and surprised her.

As Lily yelped and whipped out her wand, James broke into hysterics.

"Did you…the look on your face…" he managed between laughs.

"James Potter!" Lily said, pointing her wand at his chest. "I'm going to…I'm going to…"

"Going to what?" he asked, swiftly pulling her wand out of her hand.

"Hey! James, give that back!" Lily yelled as he took off running again.

Huffing and puffing, Lily ran down hall after hall and up flights of stairs after James until he abruptly stopped a little ways ahead of her.

"Lily, come here quick," James whispered, pulling her close to him by the hand. Lily saw him pull a silvery cloak out of his pocket and throw it over them. Just as soon as they had disappeared, Professor McGonagall passed by, looking around suspiciously. Lily knew they had made a lot of noise, running through the castle and even though she knew she and James were invisible, she held her breath and prayed that McGonagall would keep walking by. When she was right next to Lily and James, she stopped and took a step closer to the wall they were hiding next to. Lily felt James wrap his arm around her waist and pull her closer to him, making her heart pound crazily in her chest. Eventually, McGonagall decided that no one was there and walked out of sight. Lily strangely felt a small twinge of regret when James pulled her away from his warm chest and slipped the cloak off of them.

"That was a close one," James said once McGonagall was out of earshot, walking back and forth in front of a section of blank wall.

"Yeah," Lily agreed. "What are you doing? I thought you wanted to show me your surprise."

James stopped pacing in front of the wall and turned to her. "I do. We're here now," he said, gesturing to a set of doors that Lily could have sworn were not there a moment ago. "Welcome to the Room of Requirement."

He walked up to the doors and held one open for her.

"After you," he said, smiling broadly.

Warily, Lily stepped through the doors, wondering why James had been so excited to show her this room. Once she was inside, however, her jaw dropped in wonder. The room looked very much like the Gryffindor Common Room, only it was about half its size. There was a fire burning in the fireplace on the far wall making the room toasty warm. Near the fireplace were two squashy armchairs and a loveseat as well as a round wooden table equipped with two chairs. On the other side of the room was an elegant candle lit dinner table.

"What is this place?" she managed to ask after a few moments of silence.

James merely shrugged, trying to look dispassionate, but Lily could see he was hiding a grin.

"James," Lily prompted, gesturing to the room.

"It's just somewhere we can come to hang out," he said, shrugging his shoulders again.

"We do hang out, James. I've probably spent more time with you in the past couple weeks than I have with my best friends," Lily admitted.

"No," he said, shaking his head. "It's not the same thing, spending time together with the guys around. And here, we can spend time together…alone."

Lily made a face at the word "alone" and her eyes flickered over to the loveseat again.

"Lily, no, I didn't mean it like that." James looked down at the floor for a moment and for a fleeting second, Lily thought he might be lying. Then when he looked up again his eyes met hers and he flashed a crooked smile. "It's sort of like tree houses that Muggle kids build; a special, hard to get to place where you go with your friends. Did I make the right analogy? I don't know much about Muggles."

Lily laughed. "So are you saying this is our 'tree house?'" she said, making air quotes with her fingers.

"If you want it to be, sure. Anyways, just humor me, Lils. It'll be fun."

James took her hand again and pulled her to the small candlelit table.

"Here you are, Miss Evans," James said, dramatically, pulling out a chair for Lily. Once she had sat down, he took a bottle of butterbeer from the table and filled her glass and his. "There you are," he said with a chuckle before sitting down himself.

"So how did you find this room?" Lily asked, taking a sip of her butterbeer. "I've never heard of it before."

James smirked. "Most people at Hogwarts haven't heard of it. My friends and I found it in our second year. You have to have a need for it; we needed a place to hide from Filch and it turned up as a broom cupboard. It changes its form for a person's need."

Lily nodded, taking in the new information.

"So what was your need for the room now?" she asked, suspiciously.

He shrugged. "I needed a place to spend time with you."

Lily rolled her eyes. James saw her eye roll and leaned across the table to take her hands.

"Come on, Lily. Try to enjoy yourself."

"Okay, okay, I'll try." She then became overly-conscious of James's hands intertwined with hers, blushed, and looked down at the table. Apparently James felt the same way because he released her hands.

Lily cleared her throat to break the awkward silence. "Anyways, so tell me more about this room."

Looking grateful that she had started the conversation, James grinned and leaned forward with his elbows on the table.

"Well, it does have its drawbacks. You see, it doesn't produce food or drink so I had to bring this bottle of butterbeer ahead of time."

Lily raised her eyebrows. "So you had this planned out?"

"Is that so wrong?"

"Well…I guess not. I mean you could have told me about our little outing. I could have brought something to eat…"

"Don't worry about it. The butterbeer will probably be enough," James said, taking another sip of his drink.

"Yeah, I guess. So, have you ever used this room between now and your second year?"

A mischievous look spread across James' face at her question. "Oh, loads of times!"

James then began to regale Lily with his numerous encounters with the Room of Requirement over the past several years. As she expected, he and the other Marauders had used it often to hide from Filch, however, they had also used the room for less trivial matters. Once the boys had decided to become Animagi so they could help Remus through his transformations, they spent hours in the room researching how to do so. According to James, the room had supplied them with all the necessary books so no one would ever know their intentions. Eventually, in their fifth year, they had made their first transformations in the room.

"Wow," Lily said once James had finished. "Ever since you told me about being Animagi, I'd wondered how you pulled it off without anyone ever knowing."

"Well now you know," he answered with a smile. He took the last sip of his butterbeer, leaned back in his seat, and put his arms behind his head.

As James sat back in his seat, Lily suddenly realized that they had unconsciously been leaning towards each other across the table. Embarrassed, she instantly leaned back in her seat too and looked down at her hands. James yawned and broke the silence.

"Tired?" Lily asked, looking up and raising her eyebrows at him.

"Yeah, a little. I was out late last night doing...well you know, it was a full moon."

Lily nodded. "Well, I don't want to keep you too late. Tonight was fun. We should do it again sometime," she said, getting up from her seat.

James eyes widened. "No, wait! Stay a little longer. I'm not that tired."

Lily looked at him suspiciously but did not sit back down in her seat.

He sighed heavily and walked over to where she stood behind her chair.

"Stay a little longer, Lily. It's not that late," he said, pulling her by the hand to the loveseat.

"James is something wrong?" she asked, concerned now. Why did he not want her to leave so badly?

"No, nothing's wrong at all. In fact, I'm great. Just splendid. I'm better than I've been in a long time."

"Then why won't you let me leave? And don't tell me you want to 'spend time with me,'" Lily said, using finger quotes. "Something is up with you, James. I know you better than that."

"Ugh," James said, putting his head in his hands. "I wanted to do this _so_ much better—smoother," he muttered to himself.

"James…" Lily said, putting her hand on his shoulder.

Finally, James lifted his head, staring into the fireplace.

"Ok. The moment's gone—it was gone a while ago actually, but I'm just going to go for it." He turned his head to look confidently and surely into Lily's eyes.

Lily gazed back into his hazel eyes, waiting for him to continue.

"I've really enjoyed getting to know you better, Lily. I know we haven't had the best history and we haven't been close for that long but something about us feels right." He paused to take a deep breath, "I'm in love with you, Lily."

*****

Lily stared at James for a long minute, completely at a loss of what to say. James' expectant look disappeared as he watched her dumbfounded expression.

"So…," he said with a crooked smile. "That's it, I guess. Just something I wanted you to know…"

"James, I…" Lily finally managed to say. "I mean…Wow, I really don't know what to do with that…"

James face fell for a moment but then he put both his hands on her shoulders.

"Just tell me how you feel, Lily. But keep in mind that this time I'm not telling you as an annoying immature git. I've grown up a bit since then and I'm serious now. I really do love you."

"James, I love you too, but—"

"Well then that settles it!" he exclaimed, swiftly bringing his lips to hers.

The moment James' lips touched hers, Lily was overwhelmed with shock and repulsion. Angrily, she pushed his face away and slapped him hard across the face.

"What was that?!" she yelled at him, jumping up from the loveseat.

James looked at her with wide, confused eyes, apparently trying to figure out how he had misunderstood. He reached his hand up to touch the red mark on his face.

"You said you loved me," he explained, standing up as well. The indignation faded from his face at Lily's livid look.

Seeing the crestfallen look on James' face, though, made Lily's anger ebb away slightly.

"Yes, I love you as a friend. Best friend, actually."

"And nothing more?" he asked, raising his eyebrows.

"Yes, nothing more than that," she said decisively.

"Are you sure?" he pressed.

"Yes! Will you please stop pushing the matter? If you're going to act like this, I'm going to leave."

"No, Lily, don't!" James said, quickly blocking her path to the door. "I'm not going to give up this easily, I—"

"Of course, I should have known!" she cried, throwing her hands up into the air. "James Potter _never_ gives up! Not the boy who has been pursuing me since first year! You're 'mature' and 'charming' act was just a hoax wasn't it?"

Lily tried to swallow the lump in her throat but tears were already starting to well up in her eyes. She should have seen it coming. James Potter hadn't changed. Not one bit. He had pretended to act differently just to get close enough to her to confess the obnoxious and immature crush he had on her. He didn't truly love her. For some reason, this thought made Lily's stomach clench and the tears in her eyes began to run down her face.

"No!" James exclaimed. "It wasn't an act at all. I _have_ changed. Or at least I've tried my best to deflate my head a bit and not be the annoying arrogant prat you hated. Ask Sirius or Remus or even Peter. I did it all for you because I loved you. And I still love you."

Lily made a face at James, still not convinced of his true motives.

"And what's more," he continued with a smile, "is that you love me too."

Lily's jaw dropped and it took her a moment to overcome her shock at his bold statement to respond.

"_What?!_ I do not _love_ you!" she shouted at him, "I don't even like you like that."

James raised his eyebrows at her. "Really? So you're telling me that you haven't enjoyed spending time with me a little more than you should have. Or that you don't get butterflies or feel your heart beat like crazy when I'm around?" He paused and then continued, speaking a little softer, "Or even that you don't secretly like it when I'm close to you?" Here he took a step closer to Lily and wrapped his arms around her waist, which she immediately threw off.

At that moment, her heart was pounding like she'd just run a marathon. Her head was swimming and she felt slightly faint. Trying to keep her face composed, she looked straight into James' hazel eyes."

"Yes, that's exactly what I'm telling you," she said, dully. "I'm not attracted to you, James."

He pursed his lips and stared intently into her eyes. "Are you sure?" he asked, slowly.

"Positive. I don't want to be anything more with you than friends."

James was silent for a long time before he looked over Lily's shoulder and said in a dull, impassive voice, "Do you want me to stay away from you, then?"

His question caught her off guard. Her first instinct was to cry out "No!" Despite what his motives had been, James was still her friend. One of her best friends. She couldn't lose him over this.

"You don't have to worry about my feelings if you still want to be friends, Lily. It doesn't matter to me."

Lily was quiet, thinking over what James had just said.

"It matters to me, James. I don't want to be the cause of your pain. It's probably better if we don't see each other anymore." Maybe that way he could finally move on from her.

With that, Lily turned and walked out of the Room of Requirement.

* * *

**I know, it's so sad. You've got to feel bad for James...**

**Again, reviews are like cookies: they're nice to get and make you feel good. =]  
**


	13. The Lion and the Serpent

**First: Disclaimer-this entire world belongs to JKR. More specifically, this chapter title was taken directly out of _Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix._ Although, in this chapter I like to think that it has more than one meaning. =]**

**Second: look, i know in the past _month_ this story has gotten over 3000 hits, but has only gotten 27 reviews. Personally, that is not very encouraging to me as an author. I'm being nice and giving you this chapter (in which some drama happens *smiles mischievously*) earlier than I had planned to. It would make my day (especially because i'm taking the stupid SAT tomorrow) if my inbox was full of reviews. please?**

**haha, okay, sorry if that sounded mean/annoying in any way, but you have to understand where I'm coming from. Enjoy chapter 13 ;)**

_Chapter 13_

By the time Lily made it back to the Gryffindor Tower, tears that had been welling up in her eyes finally spilled over. The common room was empty so Lily, not wanting to risk her roommates seeing her like this, sank into an armchair by the fireplace to try to sort out her thoughts.

Why was this so hard? She sighed and wrapped her arms around her legs. Why did James have to have feelings for her? She had been perfectly content with their new friendship, thinking of him more and more like a brother. Then he had to ruin it by confessing his love for her! Lily wiped her eyes as she thought about the next few days of school and how awkward it would be to see James. She cringed to remember how hurt he had looked when she had rejected him.

Suddenly from behind her, Lily heard the portrait hole open and glanced over her shoulder to see James climb through. She leaned back into the chair hoping James wouldn't see her but this was unnecessary. He was staring intently at the floor looking very distressed and went straight up the stairs to the boys' dormitories.

A wave of guilt washed over Lily as she was reminded that she was the cause of his pain. But this was for the best. If she was firm with him and refused to allow him to hope then maybe he could finally move on from her. And that was what she wanted….right?

James' words still rang in her head: _you love me, too_. Lily knew that he could not be more wrong than if he had said that she was destined to play professional Quidditch. However, a small part of her brain could not ignore his response to her indignant denial. _Really? So, are you telling me that you haven't enjoyed spending time with me a little more than you should have? Or that you don't get butterflies or feel your heart beat like crazy when I'm around? Or even that you don't secretly like it when I'm close to you? _

Though she would never admit it aloud, he had been right. She always secretly looked forward to seeing his smiling face at breakfast every morning. It made her feel special that he always looked for _her_ and ignored the many girls who were anxious to be in her place. Whenever he got too close or smiled her favorite crooked smile, she _did_ feel her heart quicken and her stomach do a back flip.

Groaning, Lily slid down in her chair and put her head in her hands. Did this mean she had feelings for James? She tried to picture finally accepting a date with James, walking down the halls holding hands with him, kissing him…

Lily remembered how he had kissed her earlier that night. She had been too much in shock that he had actually tried to kiss her to think much about the kiss. Though brief, it hadn't been at all like the kiss she had shared with the Ravenclaw prefect in her fifth year. She had barely known the boy and had been too flattered to turn down the date. Now that she thought about it, she had also accepted the date out of spite; James had been particularly annoying earlier that day and had made a big show of asking her out in front of a large crowd. The kiss with the Ravenclaw boy in Madam Puddifoot's teashop had been awkward and embarrassing. She had never gone out with him again after that.

The kiss with James had been entirely different. At least from James, there had been passion as he pressed his warm soft lips against hers. For a fleeting moment, Lily had to repress the urge to think about what would have happened if she had allowed James to continue.

Slightly disgusted with herself, Lily made a disgruntled face. James was her friend and nothing more. She wouldn't think of him in any other way. With her mind made up, Lily got up from the armchair and headed upstairs to the girls' dormitories.

*****

The next morning when Lily came down for breakfast she automatically looked for James in their usual spot but found him sitting with the other Marauders at the far end of the Gryffindor table. Frowning to herself, Lily sat down with Andy, Kelly, and Meredith.

"Well, this is new," commented Andy, as Lily helped herself to the plate of scrambled eggs.

"Yeah," agreed Kelly, looking concerned. "Did something happen with James, Lily?"

"What? Oh, well, we had a little argument…"

"Oh, really?" Meredith said, looking concerned.

"What's it to you?" Lily would have thought Meredith would be thrilled to hear this news.

Meredith shrugged and opened her mouth to reply but Lily cut her off.

"I thought you were dating Sean Macmillan from Hufflepuff. Don't you usually sit with him?" she asked Meredith, coolly.

"That ended a while ago. You would have known if you hadn't been so wrapped up in James Potter," Meredith said with a small smile.

"I have not been—"

"Lily, it's okay," Meredith interrupted. "I've seen you with him…and I'm not going to fight with you about James anymore…I guess I'm giving up."

"What are you saying?" Lily asked Meredith. "You're crazy about James."

Meredith sighed. "Yeah, but I guess I've seen how happy you are with him and so…I'm not going to argue when you finally decide to go out with him."

Lily looked at Meredith speechless for a moment. This was very uncharacteristic of her. "Wow, Mer…thanks…but that's never going to happen."

"What do you mean?" asked Kelly, looking up from her breakfast.

Andy had also abandoned his toast and looked at Lily for an explanation.

Taking a deep breath, Lily began the story of the night before, telling them about skipping Head duties to go to the Room of Requirement, James' confession, and their fight afterwards. When she finished, both Meredith's and Kelly's mouths were hanging slightly open and Andy's eyes were wide.

"Wow, Lily. I guess if you feel that way, there's not much I can say…" Kelly said.

"But you are making a mistake, Lily," Meredith insisted.

"Maybe I am…" she sighed. Not meeting her friends' eyes, Lily hitched her book bag over her shoulder and left for class a little early.

The remainder of that day, and the rest of the week for that matter, seemed to stretch on forever to Lily. Her mind was still in turmoil over James and she could not get him out of her head. So much had changed in so short a time. Just last week, she and James had been practically joined at the hip and now he was as aloof as he had been in September.

Throughout her classes, Lily tried to sneak glances over where James was sitting but he never looked her way, leaving Lily feeling disconcerted and lonely. Even though she sat with Kelly, Andy, and Meredith she might as well have been alone. Her friends didn't talk to her and didn't look at her except to give her sympathetic looks.

On Friday, when Lily thought she would finally have a chance to talk to James, she received a message from Professor McGonagall regretfully informing her that she would be doing her Head duties with one of the Gryffindor prefects, as James needed his rest for the Gryffindor vs. Slytherin Quidditch game the next day.

Even after staying out late patrolling the castle, Lily still woke up early on Saturday morning. The sun had just begun to rise when Lily slipped out of bed, dressed, and quietly headed down the stairs to breakfast.

When she arrived in the Great Hall, she found it to be mostly empty, with the exceptions of small groups of students sitting here and there at the House tables. At the Gryffindor table, though, there were only a few third years and the Gryffindor Quidditch team.

Lily sat a ways down the table from the Quidditch team, willing herself not to look in James' direction, and helped herself to a piece of toast. After a few minutes of eating in silence, Lily heard a high girlish voice call James' name. She glanced down the table out of the corner of her eye to see a beautiful petite blonde sit down at the table in an empty chair directly across from James.

"I want to wish you good luck on your game today," Olivia said, brightly. "I'll be in the front row cheering you on!"

"Oh, yeah?" James replied, flashing a wide smile.

"Of course!" Then, cocking her head to the side, she asked, "You're a Chaser, right?"

"Yeah," he replied, proudly. Then to Lily's surprise, James' hand jumped up to his untidy, jet black hair and he began to ruffle it. Olivia blushed and let out a giggle.

"I thought you were," she said, twisting a strand of her hair with her fingers. "Chasers always look so strong. You must practice an awful lot."

"Oh, I do. We have practice nearly every day. You're welcome to come watch us sometime if you want."

Lily could not stand listening to the conversation anymore. It was enough that James was not speaking to her anymore. She did not need to hear him flirt with another girl. Frustrated, she got up from the table and strode out of the Great Hall.

Lily spent the next couple hours before the match trying to distract herself from James. She tried to catch up on homework, but could not concentrate long enough to get much done.

A few minutes before eleven o'clock, Lily and Kelly took their seats on the Gryffindor side of the Quidditch stadium. It was a cold, wintry day and both girls were bundled up in scarlet and gold scarves and hats.

"I wonder when the game is going to start," Kelly said animatedly. "Andy was telling me that he thinks they have a chance of winning today. The Slytherin Keeper has a broken arm so they had to get a replacement last minute…"

Lily tried to listen to Kelly, but her mind was occupied with other matters. Despite Olivia's small size, most of the boys at Hogwarts knew her and fawned over her. Lily had seen her kissing numerous boys in the common room and in the halls over the past couple years and she was fairly certain that Sirius had even dated her at one time. Why did James have to act this way around Olivia? Lily had not seen him ruffle his hair like he had done this morning for anyone but her since last year.

Lily scanned the crowd around her, looking for Olivia. She found her sitting a few rows ahead of where she and Kelly were sitting, chatting with another boy. She was smiling and twisting a strand of hair just like she had been doing this morning. Lily let out a sigh of relief. Maybe Olivia acted like this around all boys. She could not possibly have been flirting with James because she had feelings for him.

A loud voice thundered throughout the stadium and interrupted Lily's thoughts. Marlene McKinnon, the commentator for the match, announced the names of the Quidditch players that were filing out onto the field while students cheered, waved banners, and chanted the names of various players. Lily picked out James and Andy, both looking very confident and excited. Meredith, on the other hand, looked as if she was about to be sick. James shook hands with the captain of the Slytherin team and once the whistle was blown, the game began.

"And they're off! James Potter takes the Quaffle, dodges Brewer, and passes to Meredith Reed—oh, she's dropped it! Slytherin Chaser, Avery, takes possession of the Quaffle…passes it to Rosier …and he scores!"

Lily exchanged looks with Kelly at this announcement. They knew that Meredith was not a very good Quidditch player but they had hoped that she wouldn't cost Gryffindor the match.

As the game continued, James and a fifth year Chaser named Sam Fischer scored goal after goal, putting Gryffindor in the lead by a good amount. Meredith occasionally got possession of the Quaffle, but she immediately passed to whoever was nearest her. Lily cringed as she saw Meredith pass the ball to one of the Slytherin Chasers.

"With help from Reed, Rosier receives the Quaffle, passes it to Avery…and he scores! That puts the score at 160-20 with Gryffindor in the lead," Marlene announced. "Oh! It looks like Lestrange has spotted the Snitch!"

Lily and Kelly groaned. Searching the sky, Lily saw the Slytherin Seeker flying fast, seeming to be in pursuit of something. If he caught the Snitch, they would lose the game.

"Hold on one minute, folks. Reed has taken possession of the Quaffle. She races towards the goal… she shoots…. she scores!"

Lily and Kelly jumped out of their seats and hugged each other. Meredith had finally scored a goal! This was her first goal ever and Lily knew how happy her friend would be.

"It's not over, yet. The Slytherin seeker—" started Kelly.

"Oh, and a Bludger from Andy Wolf has made Lestrange lose sight of the Snitch. The game's not over yet, everyone," Marlene continued. "Avery takes the Quaffle and passes it to—no, Potter intercepts and heads toward the Slytherin goal. He dodges Rosier, avoids a Bludger from Wilkes…oh, no, Lestrange appears to have seen the Snitch again and Gryffindor Seeker, Peterson, is on his tail…Potter dodges another Bludger, shoots…and he scores! And Lestrange has caught the Snitch, making the final score 180-170! Gryffindor wins!"

The whistled sounded signaling the end of the game and the stadium erupted in noise.

As Hogwarts students of all ages and sizes filed out of the stadium, Lily and Kelly picked their way through the crowd to the changing rooms to congratulate their friends.

"Kelly! Lily! Did you see me!?" cried Meredith as soon as she spotted the girls.

"You were fantastic!" exclaimed Lily, hesitating before giving Meredith a hug.

"I'm so proud of you, Meredith," Kelly said, also hugging her best friend.

"Could you two wait for me to change? I want to tell you all about my goal!" Meredith said excitedly.

"Sure, no problem," Kelly answered. The two girls sat down on a nearby bench as Meredith left to change out of her Quidditch robes.

"You know, Lily, I can stay here if you want to go ahead. I'm sure you want to congratulate James," Kelly said quietly.

"No, I don't. Besides, I know he doesn't want to talk to me. And I want to hear about Meredith's goal," Lily replied, attempting to sound sincere.

Kelly rolled her eyes at Lily. "Sure, sure."

Fifteen minutes later, the three girls left the changing room, Meredith chatting away about the goal she had scored as the three made their way up the sloping lawns to the castle. When they entered the Gryffindor common room, they found the party to have already started. The room was packed with people and there were hordes of girls surrounding various male members of the Quidditch team. Lily saw Kelly walk over to Andy and place her arm around his waist, silently announcing to the other girls that he was her boyfriend.

Several sixth year boys approached Meredith and asked her to recount her goal to them. Meredith happily obliged and Lily, not wanting to hear the reprise, escaped into the crowd of people around them. She looked around for people she knew and saw Sirius, Remus, and Peter chatting in the corner of the room.

"Hi, boys," she said cheerfully.

"Hi, Lily," Remus said, giving her a smile. "Can you believe we won?"

"I know! Meredith and James were spectacular!"

"Peter practically wet himself at the end of the game," Sirius added in with a laugh.

"No, I didn't!" protested Peter.

"Do any of you know where James is? I wanted to congratulate him on winning the game," Lily said. Though she didn't really want to face James after their week of ignoring each other, she did want to congratulate him. As awkward as it would be, Lily had missed him and this was the perfect opportunity to talk to him.

"He's over there with Blondie," said Sirius, rolling his eyes and then jerking his head to the right.

Lily turned and looked where Sirius indicated and her jaw dropped. Olivia Brooks was perched atop James' lap, kissing him passionately, running her hands through his hair. Lily stood rooted to the spot as hot tears formed in her eyes.

"James barely knew Olivia…why did he…why were they…" Lily thought to herself. Her mind could not seem to conceive what was happening. She felt like a huge hole had formed in her heart and she didn't know why. She shouldn't care who James kissed. She didn't have feelings for James...

Glancing back over at Olivia, who had intensified their kiss even more, an inexplicable surge of jealousy came over Lily. Anger built up inside her and she felt like her heart and her brain were going to explode. Holding back tears, she hurried up the stairs that led to the girls' dormitories. Once she reached the seventh years' room, she wrenched open the door, threw herself onto her bed, and cried.

Why was this happening to her? Only last year she had hated James with all her heart and now she couldn't get him out of her head. She clenched her fists at the thought of Olivia Brooks. That little girl didn't deserve James. She was selfish and didn't care about anything except boys. James on the other hand was compassionate and loyal and smart and funny…

Suddenly the door opened and Lily heard Kelly's voice.

"Lily, are you okay?"

"I'm alright," Lily managed to say through her pillow.

"No, you're not." Kelly hesitated. "I saw Olivia and James."

Lily said nothing but turned over on her side to face the window opposite from Kelly.

"Lily, talk to me. Tell me what's wrong," Kelly said, gently.

Lily sat up and turned to look at Kelly, who placed herself on the edge of the bed and gave Lily a reassuring smile. Lily sighed and put her head in her hands. "I really don't know how I feel. I thought James and I were friends but then I saw him with Olivia and I just wanted to throw something at her." Lily paused and looked up at Kelly, who nodded sympathetically.

"That's how I felt last year when Andy went out with Amber. You're jealous because you have feelings for him," Kelly told her.

Lily shrugged. "Maybe you're right," she said, slowly. "Maybe James was right. I haven't been able to get him out of my head for weeks. I used to think it was because we had become such good friends but now I'm not so sure." Lily took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. "Kelly, I think I might just stay up here the rest of the afternoon. I don't really feel like seeing anyone or talking to anyone else right now."

"That's fine," said Kelly. "But, if you ever want to talk, Meredith, Andy, and I are here for you."

* * *

**Well, what did you think? Do you hate me now, or James, or Olivia?**

**On the bright side, Lily is finally beginning to see that she likes James. =] Now, she just has to deal with James and his new girlfriend.**

Besides the obvious Ron/Hermione/Lavendar triangle, which is a little like this, this chapter (and kind of what comes next) reminds me of the earlier seasons of FRIENDS. I don't know if any of you watch that. But, when Ross comes back from on a paleontology trip, he has a new girlfriend, Julie. Rachel then has to deal with seeing them together. If you don't watch this show, I highly recommend it because it's very good.

**Remember to review! **

**And thank you! Especially sums96, , and classicmovielover, who review fairly often. =]**


	14. Snowballs

_Chapter 14_

Lily eventually emerged from her room shortly before dinnertime. Her hair was a mess and her eyes were still a little red and swollen but she felt better now that the initial shock was over. As she entered the Common Room, she saw Remus and Sirius playing Wizard Chess and Andy sitting on the couch reading a textbook.

Andy looked up from his book. "Hey, Lily. How are you feeling? Kelly told me something was wrong but she wouldn't say anything specifically."

Lily nodded. "I'm feeling better but it wasn't about anything too important."

She saw Remus exchange a look with Sirius and changed the subject before they could say anything.

"What have you been up to all afternoon?" Lily asked Andy.

"I've been doing the vampire reading for Professor Burns. Have you started yet? "

"I finished it yesterday."

She sank onto the couch next to her friend and sighed.

"What do you think of James' new girlfriend?" Lily asked the boys.

"James has a girlfriend?" Andy said surprised.

Lily smiled at her friend's remark. Andy was always the last one to notice changes. In their fourth year when she had cut her hair six inches, he hadn't noticed until a week later.

"I think he could do better," Remus commented. "I know James and Olivia is not what he really wants." He gave Lily a sad, apologetic look and turned back to the chess board.

"I agree with Remus," Sirius said. "I went out with Olivia last year for about a week. She's as dumb as a post. Checkmate."

Remus groaned as Sirius' queen chopped his king to pieces.

"Shall we head down to dinner?" Remus asked.

Lily slowly rose from the couch and trudged across the room with Andy, while Remus and Sirius packed up their game

"Don't be so glum, Lils," said Andy, giving her a hug. "If he'd rather date that little blonde girl, then that's his problem. You're ten times the girl she is, anyways."

"Thanks, Andy," Lily said.

Despite the encouragement Andy, Remus, and Sirius gave her on the way down to the Great Hall, Lily's mood still could not be lifted at dinner. As they approached the Gryffindor table, she spotted James' raven-black hair and inwardly admonished herself for her automatic excitement at seeing her friend. No, she couldn't sit with James tonight. Especially since Olivia was sitting right next to him giggling and twisting her hair around her fingers.

Lily rolled her eyes and turned away from the new couple to serve herself a spoonful of mashed potatoes. After a few bites, though, she pushed away her plate and sat back in her chair with a sigh. Her dinner had no taste tonight and she was feeling a little sick to her stomach. Glancing down the table, Lily saw that Olivia was now chatting animatedly to James and playing with their interlaced hands. The little food that she had eaten turned in Lily's stomach and she leaned her elbows on the table.

"Lily? Lily?"

Turning her head towards the voice, Lily saw Kelly tilt her head to the side a little, looking a little worried.

"Are you alright?"

Lily's eyes involuntarily darted over to where James and Olivia were sitting before she replied.

"Spectacular," she answered, flatly.

"Are you sure? I asked you when the next Hogsmeade meeting was three times and you never responded," Kelly said, concernedly.

"Oh, really?" Lily said, dully. "There's a Hogsmeade trip the weekend before holiday break." She sighed heavily before continuing, "But I'm not going."

Meredith leaned across the table to whisper something to Kelly and Lily took the opportunity to sneak a peek at the happy couple again. To her disgust, it appeared as though Olivia wanted all of Hogwarts know she was dating James Potter for she had begun kissing him again. Looking back at her friends' sympathetic faces, Lily rose from her seat.

"I'm not really hungry anymore so I think I'll go to the library and catch up on some homework. I'll see you later, okay?"

Kelly gave her another apologetic look and Andy nodded.

"Feel better, Lily," called Meredith as Lily turned to leave.

*****

The next couple weeks were difficult for Lily. She went to her classes, did her homework, patrolled the halls for Head Girl duties (by herself, as she and James had reached a silent agreement to walk separately), and tried her best to avoid James and Olivia as much as she could.

This, however, was not always possible. Once in the library, Meredith and Lily had been looking for a book and found Olivia kissing James behind a shelf of dusty books in the back of the library.

"Ugh, it looks like she's trying to eat his face," Meredith said in disgust as they quickly walked away.

Hearing a soft chuckle, both girls turned to see the other three Marauders sitting at a table piled high with books.

"That's a good way of putting it, Meredith," Sirius laughed. "I think I have a pretty good guess at who you're talking about. Olivia took him away to show him something about ten minutes ago," he said, throwing down his quill.

"Sirius," Remus muttered, shoving his elbow in Sirius' side and glancing at Lily.

"Don't worry about it," Lily said, waving her hand, to stop Sirius from apologizing.

Turning to her friend, she said, "Hey, Mer, I'm a little tired so I might just head up to bed."

"Okay, Lily. I'll see you tomorrow," Meredith replied, sitting down with the Marauders, as Lily exited the library.

On another, more embarrassing night, Lily opened the door of the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom to retrieve her forgotten textbook to find James and Olivia in the middle of a heavy kissing session. Blushing furiously, she left the room without even apologizing and ran all the way back to the Gryffindor common room.

"Lily, what happened?" asked Andy, as Lily stumbled through the portrait hole.

Meredith, Kelly, and the three Marauders who had been lounging on the couch and in the squashy armchairs by the fireplace looked up at Andy's question.

"James and Olivia," she managed to say, collapsing on the couch by Kelly's side.

Lily saw her friends exchange looks.

"Lily, don't worry about him," Kelly said, wrapping her arm around Lily and giving her a squeeze.

"Yeah, Lily, he's being a git," Sirius persisted. "If he was smart enough to realize how miserable you are, I'm sure he would dump that blonde in a heartbeat."

Lily's stomach turned over at what Sirius had just said. Though James had speculated that she fancied him, she had never told him that he was right. She had been the one demanding friendship when it was clear they both had feelings for each other. She might as well have thrown him at Olivia. Groaning, she leaned her head against Kelly's shoulder.

Once Kelly, Andy, Meredith, and the Marauders had finished giving Lily words of sympathy and encouragement, they drifted back into regular conversation, back to the real world, that continues to move on no matter what happens.

"Kelly, did you say you're spending Christmas here or at your house?" Lily heard Remus ask.

"Actually, I'm going to be spending it with Andy at his parents' house." Even though she couldn't see her friend's face from where she was lying, Lily could tell that Kelly was beaming and she couldn't help but be happy for her.

"So I guess it'll just be Padfoot and me spending Christmas alone at Hogwarts," Remus said with a sigh. "You and Andy will be gone, Peter's going home…"

"I'll be staying…and I think James and Lily are staying as well," interjected Meredith."

"Oh great, Christmas with the King of Snogging" Lily muttered, sarcastically.

She saw Sirius smile a half smile for a second and then quickly change the subject.

"Did you think Quidditch practice was hard today, Meredith?"

"Yes! We were out there for hours!"

"Seemed more like days it was so cold," Sirius said.

"Yeah, and I just know I'll be sore for days now!" she exclaimed, holding her upper arm.

"You know, if you have someone massage you, you won't be as sore," Sirius replied, grinning.

"Really?" asked Meredith, turning to Andy, looking hopeful.

"No, Meredith. I don't mean any offense to Andy, but I don't think he's as good as I am. Let me massage you."

Andy merely shrugged while Meredith blushed deep scarlet and mumbled "Are you sure?"

"Yeah, it's no problem," said Sirius with a smile.

Meredith rose hesitantly from the couch and sat on the floor in front of Sirius' armchair. Once he began to massage her, though, she seemed to relax and a small smile crept onto her face.

Suddenly, Lily heard the portrait hole open and looked up to see James step into the common room. She met his eyes for a split second before she leapt off the couch and dashed up the stairs to the girls' dormitories.

"Where's Blondie?" Lily heard Sirius ask and she stopped on the dark landing to hear James' reply.

"She realized she had an essay due tomorrow so she's in the library."

James sounded like he was smiling and she could picture him shaking his head fondly at his forgetful girlfriend. Not wanting to hear anymore, Lily started up the stairs again but stopped when she heard her name.

"So I take it Lily's still not talking to me," James said.

"Yeah, I think she's still pretty upset with you about Olivia," Lily heard Remus answer.

"Still?" James asked, sounding a little distressed and she heard a noise that sounded as though he had flopped onto the couch.

"Yeah, but think about it, mate," Remus continued. "How would you feel if you were in Lily's shoes?"

James sighed loudly and then answered, "I guess I see what you mean. I'd be miserable if it were me." He paused before continuing, "But then again, I'm the one that's been in love with her for years and she doesn't give a—"

"That's not true," piped up Peter, who had been quiet the entire evening. "Lily's always moping around now that you're going out with Olivia."

The room was silent for a minute.

"Is that true Pete?"

Lily didn't hear a response so she assumed Peter was nodding. What she didn't expect, though, was James' response.

"Well, even if that is true, it doesn't matter anymore. I've spent too much time chasing after that girl only to get nothing in return," James said, frustration in his voice.

"What are you saying, Prongs?" Sirius asked, tentatively.

"I'm saying what I tried to say at the beginning of this year by distancing myself from her and what I mean now by dating Olivia. I'm giving up on Lily. It's a lost cause and I've had enough." Lily heard what sounded like a cushion being thrown across the room. "And you can tell her this too. She can stop feeling sorry for hurting my feelings by rejecting me for the umpteenth time. I'm through."

Lily heard James get up from the couch and stomp up the stairs to the boys' dormitories and then she ascended the remaining steps to her own dormitory.

So James really did love her. She felt her stomach do a back flip and couldn't help but smile to herself. The smile vanished quickly though, as Lily remembered what she had overheard James say. He had given up on her. After seven years of relentlessly pursuing her, he had given up. A part of Lily couldn't help but hope that it wasn't true, that there was still some chance that he would dump Olivia and try his chances with her again. This time she wouldn't reject him or publically humiliate him because she knew she returned the feelings he had for her.

Pulling back the sheets and climbing into bed, Lily recalled that James had said that he had given up on her before. That decision had obviously not held up, as he had just confessed his feelings to her no more than two weeks ago. A small smile crept across her face at this memory. There was still a chance that not all hope was lost and with this thought, Lily drifted off to sleep.

*****

On the last Saturday before winter break, Lily woke up to hear the excited chatter of her roommates. Looking over at her clock, she saw that it was still early and frowned.

"What are you all doing up so early?" Lily demanded, her voice still hoarse from sleep.

"Today's Hogsmeade," answered Meredith simply. "And look!"

Lily turned towards the direction Meredith was pointing to see a blanket of snow outside the window. Groaning, Lily rolled over onto her side and pulled her sheets up to her chin. This was not going to be a good day. Everyone had someone they wanted to spend the day in the village with except her and she would be forced to be a tag-along. On top of that, she would have to slog through the cold wet snow all day.

"What's wrong Lily?" Meredith inquired.

"You don't feel sick, do you?" Lily heard Kelly ask.

Now that she thought about it, Lily didn't feel well either. Her throat hurt a little and under her blankets she was suddenly very hot.

"No, I don't feel the best, but it's nothing I can't handle," Lily replied, nonchalantly. She didn't want her friends to worry about her.

So despite the fact that she felt a little sick and was not looking forward to spending the day in the village at all, Lily went to Hogsmeade with her friends. When they first arrived, Kelly and Andy went off together towards The Three Broomsticks and since Peter had asked out a round faced girl from Hufflepuff, Lily was left with Meredith, Sirius, and Remus.

"Sirius, where'd you like to go first?" Meredith asked as the group walked down the Main Street. "Sirius…Sirius?"

Looking around and seeing no sign of their friend, Lily and Remus joined Meredith in scouring the crowd for Sirius' head of shaggy dark hair.

"Sirius!" exclaimed Meredith at last as a large black dog came bounding towards her. "What are you doing?!"

The dog jumped up onto his back legs and began licking Meredith's face.

"Sirius…stop it…stop…" Meredith managed to say between giggles.

As Lily and Remus exchanged looks, Sirius leapt off of Meredith and ran into the crowd.

"Come on," Remus said, picking up Meredith's hat from the ground and handing it to her, "He means for us to follow him."

"I think I could figure out that much," replied Meredith, brushing snow off herself.

The group plodded through the snow until they saw a human Sirius waiting for them outside of Honeydukes, wearing a goofy grin.

"Thought that was funny, did you," Meredith reprimanded, a smile creeping onto her face. "Look at me, I'm covered in snow!"

As she spread her arms to support this statement, Lily saw Sirius' eyes run down her figure.

"Okay, you two. Lily and I are freezing here. Let's go inside," Remus said, holding open the door to the shop.

The rest of the day in Hogsmeade was fairly uneventful for Lily but by the time she stomped through the snow back up to the castle, her throat hurt more than ever, her nose was stuffed up, and she was dead tired.

Right before Lily entered the castle, however, a cold, wet snowball hit her on the back of the head. Whipping around, she spotted James standing a few yards away smiling the crooked smile that made her heart melt.

"You…" she said, brows furrowed and hands on her hips.

James smirked at her and gave a small wave.

"Where's your little girlfriend?" Lily called, as she picked up a handful of snow and hurled it at him.

"Olivia? Oh, she doesn't really like the cold so she went inside."

He scooped up another snowball and threw it at her. Lily dodged it but slipped and fell on the ground.

"Oh, sorry. Are you okay, Lily?" James said, starting towards her.

Lily took advantage of this and threw a big snowball right in his face.

"Then why were you waiting out here?" she asked smugly, as James wiped the snow out of his eyes.

Ignoring the question, James bent down and scooped up some more snow. Seeing this, Lily stood up and ran in the opposite direction, barely dodging the snowball he threw at her.

"Does it matter to you why I was waiting out here?" he asked, dodging the snowball she threw back at him.

Lily ducked behind a tree while James made his next snowball. It was quiet for a few seconds and she wondered for a moment if James knew where she was hidden. Then, she felt a big cold snowball land in her hair and drip down her back. Screaming, Lily ran out from behind the tree and jumped on James' back. This surprised both James and Lily and they fell to the ground in a heap of snow.

"Nice one, Lils," James said, laughing.

Lily spat the snow out of her mouth and rolled off of James, coughing. James sat up and pounded her on the back.

"You know I didn't really expect you to jump on me like—are you okay Lily."

Still coughing, Lily nodded. It was very cold outside and her wet clothes were not making her feel any better.

"Are you sure?" James asked once she had stopped coughing.

As if on cue, Lily sneezed. "Really, I'm fine. You don't need to worry about me," she assured him. Then under her breath she added, "You can go back to playing tonsil tennis with your girlfriend."

"What was that?" James asked, raising his eyebrows. "I think I'd better get you out of this cold."

With that, he helped her up slung her arm around his shoulder, and helped her into the school.

"James, seriously. This isn't necessary." She paused to couch into her sleeve. "I'm perfectly capable of walking myself back to the common room."

"The common room?" he repeated, incredulously. "I'm taking you to the Hospital Wing."

"But what about Olivia? What if she sees you?"

"I'd be surprised if she was opposed to me taking a sick friend to the Hospital Wing," James answered simply. "She's my girlfriend. She should understand."

Lily winced inwardly at how casually James said that. Almost as if he had been dating Olivia for months…

Sighing, her eyes wandered over to James. His hazel eyes were looking straight ahead and his mouth was set with determination. She hadn't been this close to him in a while and she was beginning to realize how much she had missed him. She had missed his arm now wrapped tightly around her waist and his messy dark hair which used to annoy her so much and the smell of his clothes when he held her close...

As they rounded a corner, James broke the momentary silence.

"You never answered my question Lily."

"What?" She racked her brain, trying to remember.

"Outside in the snow…I asked you if it mattered why I was waiting…and you never answered…" He broke off and looked over at her.

"Well…I am curious…but—" she broke off and sneezed.

"Bless you. And don't worry about it, Lils. I'm not going to put you on the spot," James said. He flashed his crooked smile. "I was waiting for you out there."

Lily nodded and waited for him to continue.

"You see, I don't know if this 'pretending the other person doesn't exist' act is going to work out."

James' hazel eyes met hers and Lily felt herself blush and her stomach back flip.

"You don't?" Lily asked, trying to act casual and suppress the sudden feelings of excitement and hope.

"I miss you Lily," he said. "I miss talking with you and goofing around with you and being your friend. I know you said you didn't feel the same way I did about you but now that I have Olivia, I don't see why there's any reason we can't be friends."

Lily felt her heart sink and while James grinned at her, she could only return a half smile, half grimace. He only wanted to be friends and here she was half-hoping he was going to announce his break up with Olivia and proclaim his love for her again.

"That's great, James" she finally managed to get out. "Sure, we can be friends again."

"Good! Well, here you are," he said, steering her into the Hospital Wing. "Do you want me to stay a bit and make sure you're alright?"

"No, I've got it," Lily said, tensely. "You can leave."

"Okay. I hope you feel better, Lils. And I'll probably see you at dinner tonight. I can introduce you to Olivia if you want."

"Okay, good-bye James," she said, ushering him out the door.

Once he was gone, Lily turned around to face the Hospital Wing and let out a loud, disheartened sigh.

* * *

**Well, I hope you still liked the story despite the fact that it's not nearly as upbeat as previous chapters. But I promise things will turn around soon.**

In the next chapter, Lily talks with someone in the Hospital Wing. Any guesses as to who this character might be? I'll bake a plate of cyber chocolate chip cookies for anyone who gets it right. =]

I would love to hear any comments/advice about the chapter or story in general. Thanks so much to everyone who has reviewed. You guys keep me motivated to write!


	15. Unexpected

_Chapter 15: Unexpected_

Lily gazed out the window at the far end of the hospital wing, her mind still racing. She should have explained to James that she did not just want to be friends, or at least that she did not want to meet Olivia. Her hand reached for the door behind her, but she stopped herself. James was probably too far away to catch up with now and Madam Pomfrey might hear left.

"Lily?"

Quickly pulling her thoughts away from James and Olivia, Lily looked over at the line of hospital beds to see Severus Snape propped up against pillows.

She resisted the urge to crinkle her nose at her old friend since the last conversation they had ended in an argument. However, now that she thought about it, she had not seen Severus slinking around Hogwarts in quite a while.

Lily nodded in response to him and asked unconcernedly, "How are you, Severus?"

"I'm getting better. Not that you care, though," Severus added harshly. "I suppose you're too preoccupied with Potter now." Lily noticed how he seemed to spit out James' surname.

Lily opened her mouth to retort, but at that moment Madam Pomfrey came bustling out of her office.

"I thought I heard something. Is there anything you need, Miss Evans?"

"Oh, I just have a little cold. My _friend_-" Lily shot a glare at Severus "-was concerned about me so he brought me here, but it's not necess—"

"Sure it is. Why don't you take the bed next to Mr. Snape and I'll get you some Pepperup Potion."

As Madam Pomfrey turned to prepare the potion, Lily sat on the bed, careful not to look at Severus. She coughed into her sleeve and looked pointedly away from her old friend.

"Really, Lily, why do you hate me so much? I know my friends are…different than yours but I apologized for calling you those names. It really was just a slip of the tongue—"

"Severus, _please_," Lily said, turning to glower at him. "A slip of the tongue? I don't think so. You call me a…a mud-…well you know what I mean, whenever you have the chance in front of your Death Eater friends. Besides, we've been over this a hundred times. I _said_ I didn't want to have _any_ association with you if you or your friends were meddling in the Dark Arts."

"Lily, I—"

"And what are those scars from?" she spat, looking furtively at the faint pink slash marks on Severus' arms and the large one starting at his cheek and trailing down to his neck.

At Lily's question, Severus instantly blushed and looked down. "Nothing," he mumbled. When he looked up to meet Lily's raised eyebrows, he turned pink again. "It's really nothing, Lily. Don't worry about—"

"Who did this to you?" she asked, growing angry. Even if they were not friends anymore, the idea that someone had harmed him still made her blood boil.

"No one did. It…it was me…It's why I've been in here so long." He blushed again at Lily's look of shock and disbelief. "No, I wasn't…Well, remember how I used to make up spells? This one was supposed to be for enemies and it went wrong and backfired on me…I used _Virsectum_…but I see now where I went wrong…it needs to be _Hostsectum_ or _Semprasectum_ or something like that to cut the other—"

Severus, who had apparently said too much, broke off and looked up to see Lily's look disgust.

"You are really not the boy I used to know, Sev."

Severus simply stared into her eyes for a moment before acidly replying, "So I guess Potter's changed, too."

Lily was about to answer with a sharp retort but was interrupted when Madam Pomfrey reentered the room with a goblet of potion. "Well, here you go, Miss Evans," the school nurse said promptly. "Drink up! You might have some steam coming out of your ears during the next few hours, but other than that you should be fine. I'd like you to stay here for a little while longer, dear, just to be sure that you're alright."

Lily took the potion from the nurse and drank it; she could feel the warmth as it went down her throat and into her stomach. When she was done, Lily handed Madam Pomfrey the goblet back and the nurse gave a maternal smile and returned to her office.

"Why would you think that?" Lily hissed, turning back to Severus immediately.

"The way he brought you in here. He had his arm around you and you called him 'James.' I'm assuming that didn't happen overnight. Are you two going out now?"

Lily's stomach twisted at Severus' words. "That's none of your business," she said a little too quickly.

Severus stared at her thoughtfully for a moment before replying. "No, I guess you aren't. He did mention another girl's name. Is she his girlfriend? Does that bother you, Lils?"

"_Don't_ call me 'Lils,' Severus."

"Why? You just called me 'Sev' a minute ago."

Lily sighed heavily. "Well, I didn't mean to. But I would _really_ prefer if you didn't call 'Lils.' Those times are over."

"Do they have to be? I mean, we were best friends and we _know_ each other. A lot better than say…you and Potter do."

Lily narrowed her eyes. "What does James have to do with this?"

Severus shrugged. "Nothing really. I was just pointing out that you and I have much more of a connection, much more of a history, than you do with…others."

Lily frowned but remained quiet, letting him continue. She had an idea where this was going but out of the corner of her eye, Lily saw Severus lean towards her bed, trying to look into her eyes.

"Lily…" he said and she could hear the emotion in his voice. "I'm just trying to look out for you…don't try to chase after Potter. He's a git and—"

"Severus! I know you don't like him but—" Lily interrupted, glaring at him. She was annoyed that he had insulted James and her, too, for that matter. She was not _chasing_ after James.

"Okay, sorry, I shouldn't have said that. It was tactless. But I just don't want him to hurt you. Not when there are better guys, or at least one who cares more about you. One who would _never_ hurt you…"

Severus gazed intently into her eyes with his dark black ones while her mouth fell open and she stared at him speechless. After the numerous times she had tried to make it clear to Severus that their friendship was over and she wanted nothing to do with him, he had the _nerve_ to think she would go out with him.

"Lily, don't you see?" Severus went on, reaching for her hand, which Lily yanked away promptly. "I would be so much better for you than him."

Lily knew she had to stop this before Severus fell out of his bed trying to kiss her. Thankfully, as she got up out of bed, Madam Pomfrey came out of her office.

"How are we feeling in here?" the motherly nurse smiled. "Oh, dear. Where do you think you're going?"

"Much better. I think I'm ready to leave," Lily replied, glancing at Severus, who looked hurt and confused.

The nurse felt Lily's head and seemed satisfied. "Alright, I understand. You are free to go." Then she turned back to her office and mumbled something about turning in early for the night.

Lily turned back to glare at Severus but the look on his face turned her anger into pity. Briefly, she gave him a quick apologetic look but then her face hardened as she remembered why she was leaving.

"No, Severus, I think you're wrong. We could never be together. Like I've told you before, you chose your path and I chose mine a long time ago."

Without looking back again, Lily stalked out of the hospital wing.

*****

Early Monday morning, Lily woke up early to say goodbye to Kelly and Andy, who would be leaving on the Hogwarts Express for the winter holidays. She walked with Meredith and Kelly, who was levitating her trunk, down the stairs and they met Andy in the Common Room.

"So, I guess we'll see you later, Lils, Meredith," Andy said, giving each girl a hug.

"Yeah, have a good Christmas," Lily said, reaching to hug Kelly.

"Yes, I hope you two have a great Christmas," Meredith chimed in, hugging Kelly. "We'll see you in January."

A sudden yelp made Meredith jump apart from Kelly. Andy and the girls stared up the boys' staircase where the noise had seemed to come from and heard muffled shouts.

"What do you think you're doing in here?"

"James, get her out! She can't come in here!"

Lily exchanged glances with her friends and laughed.

"Do you want me to see what's going on?" Andy asked the girls.

But Andy's question was unnecessary. They heard a door slam, a pair of feet stomp down the stairs, and then a pajama clad, irritated looking James came into view, escorting Olivia.

When James caught sight of Lily, Kelly, and Andy, he blushed, and quickly turned to his girlfriend. Lily and her friends quietly laughed at the pair until Kelly and Andy finally turned to leave with a parting wave at Lily and Meredith.

"But James, I'm about to leave," Lily overheard Olivia explain. "I didn't know if you were going to come down in time to say goodbye. Plus, I thought it would be fun if I surprised you."

Lily glanced over just in time to see Olivia make a goofy, seductive face and then plant her lips on James' mouth. Rolling her eyes, Lily went back upstairs with Meredith to change. Unsurprisingly, when they came back downstairs again, Olivia was still glued to James. Lily exhaled loudly and quickly left for the Great Hall with Meredith.

Without Kelly or Andy, breakfast was quiet. The two girls served themselves eggs and bacon and then sleepily ate, staring off at nothing in particular. No sooner than ten minutes after they had started, though, Sirius plopped down on the bench across from Lily and Meredith.

"Hey, Mer, how are you doing?" he grinned, helping himself to breakfast. "Lily," Sirius nodded in her direction.

"So what happened this morning?" Meredith asked with a giggle. "We heard you and James shouting."

"Olivia," Sirius grumbled. "My ears are still ringing. She jumped on top James while he was sleeping…I can't believe her…" Sirius trailed off and quickly looked down at his food.

Lily and Meredith turned around to see Remus and James walking towards the Gryffindor table and copied Sirius.

"Well, if it isn't the King of Snogging, himself," Lily muttered under her breath.

"Oh, go ahead and complain all you want. He knows we all hate her," Sirius whispered as Remus and James sat down next to him.

"You all know I can hear you, right?" James asked, as he served himself a large helping of bacon and eggs.

"That's kind of the idea," Lily said, surprising herself. She quickly looked down at her plate. When she looked up at him, James had scrunched his eyebrows together and cocked his head.

"But you don't even know her, Lily. Don't tell me Lily Evans, the Head Girl, thinks badly of someone you don't even know."

Lily said nothing and looked back down at her food.

"Well, I guess you won't want me to introduce you to Olivia when she comes back," James said.

Lily looked up again and met his eyes. He seemed to be laughing at her, as opposed to looking hurt or upset that Lily didn't like his girlfriend. Again, as often happened when she was with James, she didn't know what to make of this. Could it mean that he didn't have very deep feelings for Olivia?

"Well, I won't be too upset if you don't."

"That goes for me, too," Meredith piped up.

"I've probably had enough of her, too, James," Remus added in with a chuckle.

James laughed and turned to Sirius.

"Why are you looking at me?" Sirius said to him. "Prongs, you know I've definitely had enough of Olivia Brooks. Especially after the way she came in our room this morning."

"Yeah, that shouldn't have happened. I talked to her about it," James said, looking a little sheepish.

"Speaking of Olivia," Sirius mused, serving himself another helping of bacon and eggs. "Is that why you smell so flowery this morning?" Sirius made a show of sniffing the air in James' direction and then let out a bark-like laugh.

"Okay, okay," James said, turning slightly pink. "She may have put on a _little_ too much perfume this morning. Can we drop the subject of my girlfriend, now?"

"Ah, we're only teasing you, Prongs. We won't talk bad about Olivia anymore, as long as you're going out with her," Remus said.

"At least in front of you, we won't," Sirius added in under his breath to Lily and Meredith.

Compared to breakfast, the rest of the day was fairly unexciting. James, Sirius, and Remus were outside for a large portion of the day and after spending the morning in the library with Lily, Meredith joined the boys outside after lunch.

Lily was still not completely over her cold and decided not to worsen her condition by going outside in the snow. Instead, she spent the majority of the afternoon curled up in one of the armchairs by the fire catching up on some reading, both for school and for pleasure. Then, after the boys, Meredith, and numerous other Gryffindors came inside with red faces and damp clothes, she took out some parchment and began a letter to her parents and Petunia. So much had happened so far this year but she was still unsure of what to write.

Shortly before dinner, when she had only written a few sentences, someone draped a cold and slightly wet scarf around her neck.

"Hey," Lily cried, swiftly moving her letter out of the way so it wouldn't get dripped on.

"We missed you outside, Lily," said a familiar voice from above and behind her.

Lily looked up to see James leaning over the back of her armchair wearing her favorite crooked smile and couldn't help but smile in return. She leaned down to put her half-finished letter on the floor and then turned around in her seat, folding her legs underneath her, to face James.

"You did?"

"Yeah, why didn't you come? We had a lot of fun. Sirius started a snowball fight and it was great." He grinned to himself at the memory.

"How long were you out there, though? Your face is as red as a tomato and," she reached her hand up to touch his cheek, "you're freezing."

Though it was hard to tell from his already red cheeks, Lily thought that James may have blushed at her touch. He caught her eyes for a moment and took a small step backwards.

"I just hope you don't get sick," Lily continued, acting as though nothing had happened.

He shrugged. "The hospital wing is not so bad."

"Well, when you took me I ran into…an old friend and I'd bet that he's not out yet."

"Who?" James asked, tilting his head a little to the side.

"Severus Snape."

James' face hardened and he leaned towards her. "Why was he in there? Did he talk to you? If he bothered you I'll—"

"James," Lily cut him off, widening her eyes to tell him to stop. "It's almost dinner time and we have patrol duties tonight. I'll tell you about it then."

James agreed grudgingly, though his obvious concern for whatever happened to Lily in the hospital wing made the conversation during dinner strained. Lily was only too glad when dinner was over and she could finally relieve James of any false pretenses he had.

As they left Gryffindor tower to begin their patrol duties, Lily finally revealed to James her encounter with Severus in the hospital wing. Unlike in past years, when James had been quick to insult Severus whenever he wanted, James stayed quiet throughout Lily's entire story. She did, however, see him clench his fists when she told James that Severus thought she belonged with him instead of with James or any other boy.

"Well, I completely agree with you, Lily," James said once she had finished. "I can't believe he had the nerve to speak to you like that. Not when he has treated you like scum for the past few years." James' fists were clenched again.

Lily didn't reply but glanced out one of the windows instead. James, though, took her silence to mean something else.

"Lily? I didn't upset you, did I? I mean, you know I don't like Sni- , I mean Snape very much…at all. But I know he used to be your friend and—"

"No, James, I'm not upset. Just thinking…Yes, we used to be friends…and I'm probably never going to talk to him again…we only have a semester left at Hogwarts, and then who knows what will happen to him after that? In a way, I feel bad for him and what has happened to him. I wonder what would have happened if he had had a better family and friends…" Lily trailed off and then returned her gaze to James, who was smiling slightly.

"Aw, Lils. No matter what he's done to you, you still have compassion for him." James reached out and gave her a one armed hug. Lily took advantage of this and leaned into James, smelling his cologne. She was pleased that he had washed off the lingering scent of Olivia that was present at breakfast.

Once James released Lily, he looked slightly embarrassed of his actions and quickly looked towards the wall lined with portraits of sleeping witches and wizards. After they walked a little ways, James cleared his throat, breaking the silence.

"So…I don't want to bring up breakfast again, but I have to know now that we're alone."

Lily looked at him and waited for him to continue.

"Were you just playing along with Sirius and everyone or do you really not like Olivia? I'm asking, Lily, because I value your opinion just as much as I do Sirius' or Remus' or Peter's. I know we haven't spent a whole lot of time together since I started seeing Olivia but you're still one of my best friends and I want you to be honest."

He looked into her eyes and the moonlight from the window made his hazel eyes sparkle. She tried to speak but her voice didn't seem to be working and she only managed to squeak out an "I…"

"Just tell me, Lily."

This was certainly interesting. Here was her opportunity to tell James what she really thought of Olivia. Maybe she could even convince him to break up with her. Then, James would be single again and she could tell him that she fancied him…no, _really_ fancied him, and they could be happy together.

But, on the other side, James had just praised her for having compassion. He said he valued her opinion as much as the other Marauders' opinions and while he expected an honest answer from her, she did not want to hurt him. Lily didn't want to remember how James looked the week after she had rejected him when he had proclaimed his love for her. Olivia had been his way of getting over Lily, or his idea of a substitution for Lily. She remembered now that James had vowed that he had given up on her. James had begun to look happy again with Olivia as a girlfriend, no matter how much everyone else hated her, and Lily as a friend. No, she couldn't hurt James again. She would have to lie.

Lily tore her gaze away from James' eyes and managed to find her voice.

"She's…alright."

James stopped walking and turned Lily to face him.

"Really, Lily? You can honestly say that you don't mind Olivia?"

Lily looked away, down the hall. "I said she's alright." She couldn't force herself to completely lie. "I don't think I'll ever _love_ her, but if you're happy…"

"_Lily,_" James groaned and turned her head towards him, quickly dropping his hand. "Don't worry about making me happy. I want to know what you _honestly_ think of Olivia; what you think of us dating."

That was a different question. Olivia herself was not likeable, definitely annoying, but probable bearable. Lily had survived six years with Olivia living in Gryffindor Tower, though she never knew much more than her face for most of that time.

James and Olivia, though…How could she tell James that she absolutely loathed seeing the bratty girl in his arms or holding his hand? How she wished she were in Olivia's place…No, she wouldn't hurt James by telling the truth.

"Well…I…" She cast her eyes down, not wanting to look into his eyes.

"Yes?" He took a step towards her but shoved his hands into his pockets.

She glanced up at him and saw that he was gazing intently at her and she couldn't look away from his bespectacled, hazel eyes. She could hardly believe that just last year she had hated him…the boy who was now her best friend…the boy she had fallen in love with.

Everything, all her reasoning to not tell the truth didn't matter anymore. When else would she get this chance to tell him how she really felt? Olivia would be back after break and would not let James out of her sight…

"I don't like it," Lily whispered in a small voice. "I really hate it, actually. Seeing you with _her_…" Lily broke off and was surprised that her eyes were tearing up.

"What?" James said, sounding shocked, taking a step back.

Lily looked up at him, a small tear running down her cheek, and frowned. "What, you expected me to love it? Nominate you for couple of the year?"

"No….I…asked only as a friend…best friends…you said…never more than friends…" James choked out, becoming incoherent. He put a hand to his forehead and turned away from Lily.

As she watched James,_she instantly regretted her words. It had been stupid of her to have spoken the truth and she could read that on James' face when he turned back to her--pain and confusion. The look tormented her from the inside out. Hadn't she done enough damage? After rejecting him numerous times, was it fair for her to tease him like this? _

_Lily bit down on her lip to keep the tears from pouring down her face. She knew all too well why James had chosen to be with Olivia and a lot of that had to do with Lily herself. If anyone deserved to be tortured in such a way, Lily knew it was her and no one else. _

"Lily," James said, sounding torn, as he turned around to face her. "I can't just…you can't expect me to—"

"James, just forget it. It doesn't matter," Lily lied quickly, holding back tears.

Unable to look James in the eye again, Lily took off down the hall. Behind her, she could hear James calling her name but she ignored him and ran faster. She was angry that she had made a fool of herself in front of James. She had missed her chance with James and she would just have to accept it.

* * *

**Well, the story is definitely picking up in the Lily and James category. I hope everyone enjoyed the chapter.**

**Also, you know that reviews make my day and encourage me to write more. Show some love and leave me a comment/advice or at least say hello. Thanks a bunch and I'll try to update as soon as a can! ~Julia~**


	16. In a New Light

_Chapter 16_

Apart from telling Meredith, Lily went on to pretend that the unfortunate night of patrolling with James had never happened. During the remainder of the break, she avoided James and when they had to be in the same room, she ignored his attempts to get her attention.

Though Meredith, as well as Kelly and Andy, who were filled in when they returned at the start of the New Year, objected to her decision, Lily thought it was perfectly reasonable. She had been too late for James and he clearly could not be with her now, as he already seemed to have moved on from her.

And though she had finally accepted Olivia as James' girlfriend, Lily did not want to see more than was necessary of the couple. At lunch on the last day before the start of the new term, Lily heard James mention to Remus that Olivia would be returning later that afternoon so, just to make sure she would not have to see their reunion, Lily ended up spending the rest of the day in the library. Several times she considered returning to Gryffindor Tower, convinced that it was ridiculous to stay closeted up in the library, but then she pictured the first time she had ever seen Olivia and James kissing and her stomach fell. No, she could not go back.

On the morning of the first day of school of the new term, everyone slowly made their way down to the Great Hall, sleepily ate breakfast, and grudgingly headed off to class.

Lily had Charms first and managed to sit with Meredith across the room from James and Sirius. However, as the seventh year Gryffindors started on the long walk to Herbology, Meredith left Lily to walk with Sirius and before she could find Kelly and Andy, James tapped her on the shoulder.

Lily slowly turned around and gave him a half smile half grimace.

"Hi, James."

Lily ran her fingers through her hair nervously and then turned to walk out the door onto the snow covered lawn.

Of course James was right with her, keeping up with her pace.

"Lily, don't be like that."

"Like what?" she asked innocently, hitching her bag higher on her shoulder.

"Oh, come on Lily, you know what I'm talking about. You're ignoring me. You have been all break….ever since patrolling. And then you made up that lame excuse that you were sick on Friday. You knew I was never going to believe that," he said angrily.

"Well…maybe I don't want to be in the way of you and Olivia…" Lily replied.

He frowned at her. "You know more than anyone that Olivia was not here all break."

Lily bit her lip and turned her attention to her bag, giving the appearance of checking to see that she had the right books.

"Lily."

Slowly, Lily turned to him and saw his eyebrows scrunched together in concern.

"It's okay if you're embarrassed…"

Lily threw him an indignant look, despite the truth in his words, and James gave one short laugh.

"Lils, you don't know how many times I've embarrassed myself in front of you. But that's beside the point." He took a deep breath and exhaled. "I'm just…I'm really glad you finally let me know how you feel. But...I don't want to lose you just because you told me at..."

"An inconvenient time?" Lily offered, looking up to meet his eyes.

"Exactly." There was a moment of silence as they approached the greenhouses and then James turned to face her with a smile. "Thanks for understanding, Lily."

Swiftly, he wrapped his arms around her and gave her a hug and then before Lily could take in what had happened, James released her and ran ahead to enter the farthest greenhouse with Sirius and Meredith.

The bell rang just as soon as Lily slipped into the greenhouse and took a seat between Kelly and Meredith. Professor Sprout gave Lily a disapproving look for her near tardiness and then began the lesson.

"Did you and James have a fight?" Kelly whispered to Lily.

Lily didn't make eye contact as she fumbled distractedly through her bag. "No, we just talked."

"Then why did you come in separately? I saw you two walking together on the way here," Kelly said and looked at Lily expectantly. On the other side of Lily, Meredith was also leaning across the table, looking curious.

But Lily was saved from the explanation when Professor Sprout interrupted their conversation. "Miss Hamilton, could please explain the purpose of the boils on the _Mimbulus mimbletonia_ plant?"

While Kelly answered Professor Sprout's question, Meredith passed Lily a quickly scrawled note.

_Did James decide to break up with Olivia?_

Lily frowned at Meredith and shook her head. Meredith took back the note, scribbled down something else, and passed it back across the table.

_Well then what's the deal with you two? _

Lily took a minute to think about her answer but in the end wrote:

_Just friends._

Surprisingly, instead of giving Lily an apologetic look, Meredith smiled a little to herself. As she wrote back, Kelly read over her shoulder and smiled at Lily as Meredith passed back the note.

_I think he still fancies you, Olivia or no Olivia._

Lily started to crumple up the letter but then Meredith took the paper out of her hands and quickly scribbled across the bottom.

_He's been staring at you since you walked in._

Lily turned around to look towards the table where James was sitting with the other Marauders and sure enough James had been looking her way. When they met eyes, he turned slightly pink and looked down at his book.

*****

The next few weeks of January passed without much change for Lily. Though Sirius had finally asked Meredith out, Kelly and Andy had had their first major fight as a couple, and the school was abuzz with the snow that a recent blizzard had left, Lily's relationship with James did not seem to alter much.

Neither of the two spoke about their feelings for the other again and to Lily it seemed as though James was trying to forget the past month had happened. They often sat with each other in class and talked like good friends just like they had previously, but there was still something different about their relationship that had not been there before.

First, James had become politer towards Lily and, while she knew she would have paid Galleons for this change last year, she found herself almost missing the boy she could laugh and goof around with.

Second, he no longer spent evenings wrapped around Olivia in one of the common room armchairs anymore. Instead, when she saw them together at all, they would be simply holding hands or studying together in the library.

The impetus for this, Lily supposed was when one afternoon she and James had returned to the common room for their free period and Olivia had confronted James.

"Why are you always with _her_? _I'm_ your girlfriend," Olivia had whined.

"I'm sorry, Liv," James apologized. "Lily's only my friend."

"Sure," Olivia said, rolling her eyes.

Then she stopped pouting and reached for James' hand.

"You have a free period now, right?" she asked as her other hand went up to twirl a strand of hair.

James glanced from Olivia to Lily.

"Yeah, but I was hoping to get some homework done with Lil—"

"Oh, you can do that later," Olivia said, pulling James over to the couch.

As they went, James turned back to give Lily an apologetic look. Already having an idea as what was going to happen, Lily chose a round table across the room from James and Olivia and took out her notes to start her Potions essay.

Just as she dipped her quill into the ink bottle, she heard Olivia and James arguing.

"No, Olivia, stop it. I don't have time to sit here and—"

"But James! I hardly ever get to see you. You always spend so much time with _that girl_—"

"Her name is _Lily_" James said, angrily.

"Sure, whatever. But how do I know you're not snogging her when I'm not around?" Olivia accused.

"Because Lily is my friend and you're my girlfriend! I would _think_ that you had a little more trust in me." Lily looked up just in time to see James march across the room looking furious.

"No, James, don't go!" Olivia sobbed, jumping up and following to the portrait hole. "I'm sorry! I just never get to see you and I…I love you."

James made a face at his girlfriend. "You don't love me," he argued. "You just want to date me because I'm a Quidditch player, because I'm popular."

"No, James. James!"

But James continued to walk out of the portrait hole, Olivia on his heels. When they returned at the end of the free period, the two were holding hands once again and Lily could only assume that Olivia had given James a really good apology.

At the sight of Lily standing with her bag over her shoulder, James dropped Olivia's hand and grabbed his own bag.

"Bye, sweetheart," Olivia said, beaming. She stood on her tiptoes and gave James a chaste kiss on the lips. "I've got to go to Charms, but I'll see you tonight at dinner."

As Olivia skipped over to where she had left her things, a beet red James hurried out of the common room with Lily following.

James never did explain to Lily what had happened between him and Olivia during that free period but she could guess. It seemed to Lily that James had asked Olivia to bring down the intensity of their relationship, or at least in public. She didn't want to think that she was the cause of this, but the thought still made her feel happy nonetheless.

Third, Lily noticed that in addition to James acting politer around her and distancing himself a bit from his passionate girlfriend, he often looked at her as though he were seeing her in a different light.

Just like on that day in Herbology, Lily often caught him staring at her in class. Instead of glaring back at him like she used to do, or even blushing and looking away like she felt like doing, Lily tried to smile back at him. She enjoyed seeing him turn red and quickly glance away as if he had been doing something wrong. She did not even feel embarrassed anymore when she felt her own cheeks heat up. James was not just some boy she had a crush on who barely knew she existed. Lily had become comfortable around James; he was her best friend and she loved him.

On the last Monday of January, Lily came down from her dormitory to see Olivia and James holding hands on the couch. When her eyes met James', he blushed and quickly dropped Olivia's hand.

"Well, I've got to go patrol now," James said, rising from the couch.

"Hurry back, okay?" Olivia replied, standing up as well and putting her hand on James' shoulder.

"Oh, we'll be back late. You don't have to wait up," James answered, walking with Lily to the portrait hole. He gave Olivia a small crooked smile and then turned to leave.

Once they had started down the corridor, James turned to Lily with a smile on his face.

"Happy birthday."

"James, I think you've said that about five times already today," Lily giggled.

"Yeah, but it was different in class. Everyone was saying it. I wanted it to be…special now that we're alone," he explained.

"Well, thanks again."

James nodded. "But that's not it…I got you something too."

Lily looked at him, a smile forming on her face as James reached into his pocket and pulled out a small package.

"Here, I hope you like it," he said, handing it to her, grinning.

Lily took it and unwrapped the package. It was a silver necklace with a lily flower charm.

"James, thank you so much. But, you didn't have to get me anything."

"Yeah, I did. It's your birthday," he insisted.

She fingered the small charm and then looked up at James.

"Thank you again. I really like it."

"You're welcome."

As Lily put the necklace on, her thoughts strayed to Olivia. Did she know that her boyfriend was giving jewelry to another girl?

"It looks really nice on you, Lily," James said as she turned back to him.

She nodded, shrugging away the thought about Olivia. This was her birthday and she should be allowed to enjoy herself.

*****

A few days later, James was not at breakfast. Looking down the Gryffindor table, she saw Olivia sitting with other sixth year girls, gawking at a group of Hufflepuff boys. A few seats over, where the Marauders usually sat, she saw Peter, Sirius, and Remus silently eating breakfast. Looking a little closer at them, she saw that there were scratches and bruises on their faces and arms. Still suspicious of what was going on, Lily left for class with her friends.

James was not in any of her classes that day and when she returned to the common room that evening, it seemed unusually quiet with one of the four Marauders missing.

"Lily, are you alright?"

Lily turned to see Kelly standing behind her, looking concerned.

When she did not say anything, Kelly answered for her.

"It's James, right? I haven't seen him all day either."

"Yeah, I just hope…"

She suddenly remembered that last night had been a full moon. Images of James scratched to pieces by a werewolf flashed through her mind.

Ignoring Kelly's questions, Lily hurried through the portrait hole and did not stop until she ran into Professor McGonagall in the corridor.

"Miss Evans, _where _are you going?"

"I need to know…James…is he …" Lily managed to say, breathing heavily.

Professor McGonagall's look of confusion turned into understanding.

"Oh, yes. Potter is in the hospital wing. But, don't worry, I'm sure he'll be alright."

"Thank you, Professor," Lily said, running off again.

When she turned into the hospital wing corridor, Lily slowed down. There was no need to show James how worried she had been.

Everything would be fine. Maybe at worst, he would have a broken leg. She would probably walk in on Olivia sitting at James' bedside, holding his hand. At the mere thought, her stomach turned with embarrassment and jealousy.

When she walked in, he was sleeping. James lay in the farthest bed from the door; his arms had a couple large gashes and his face had three thin scratches that looked almost as if they were from claws. Apart from this, there did not seem to be anything else wrong with him.

Relief washed over Lily and she started to walk over towards him when Madam Pomfrey entered the room.

"Oh, Miss Evans. Back so soon?"

"I'm just visiting. Is he going to be alright?" Lily asked, gesturing towards James.

"Oh, he should be back on their feet soon," she replied. Then the school nurse excused herself to prepare a potion for James.

"Lily," called a familiar voice.

Lily turned around to see Sirius standing in the doorway with a smile.

"I told you guys this was dangerous," she reprimanded.

"Nah, it's not too dangerous. Things just got a little too out of control this time." He glanced around, checking for Madam Pomfrey, and then met Lily's eyes. "Just keep this quiet. No one else knows what we do with Remus at the full moon. The story is that James fell down a flight of stairs."

Lily nodded and then looked back over to where James lay asleep.

"I told James you would be by soon," Sirius continued. "Hey, James!"

"No, don't wake him up," Lily hissed.

"Then what was the point of coming, Lily?" Sirius chuckled. "And I doubt he'll mind. Prongs!"

James gave a grunt from the far bed. His head turned towards them and he blinked.

"Wha?"

"Lily," Sirius said. "She's here."

James blinked several more times until he was full conscious. Then he looked from Sirius to Lily and gave her a crooked smile.

"I guess you were right about this being a bit dangerous."

Lily couldn't help but smile back at him. "Yeah, I'm usually right about these things. But, at least you're okay. Madam Pomfrey said you could leave soon, right? You should be back to normal by tomorrow…once you get those cuts cleaned up."

James grimaced. "I'm not sure if it'll be tomorrow."

"What do you mean?" Lily asked. She found a nearby stool and dragged it over to James' bed.

"Well, I think I broke about four or five ribs and my collarbone….Moony…"

"He went out of control…more so than we could handle," Sirius explained.

"But he didn't mean to," Lily replied. "Besides, James will be okay."

"Just not okay enough in time for the next Quidditch match," Sirius said, quietly.

"Oh."

After having been friends with James over the past few months, Lily realized now how important Quidditch matches were to boys.

"Isn't there someone who can replace you?"

James made a face. "I guess there will have to be. But, don't worry about it, Lily. I'm sure you don't want to hear about our Quidditch problems."

Before Lily could answer, Madam Pomfrey entered the room again to give James a dose of a potion that Lily assumed helped strengthen his newly mended bones.

As the school nurse busied herself with James, Lily turned to Sirius.

"Has Olivia been here?" she whispered.

Sirius shook his head and then glanced over at Madam Pomfrey and James who were still not listening.

"I keep telling him to break it off with Olivia. But he doesn't listen. Are you sure he knows you fancy him?" Sirius asked.

"How did you—"

"I'm not blind, Lily. Everyone knows you two are head over heels for each other…except Olivia, that is. But, I'm just saying, he might not want to end it 'cause he's scared."

Lily scrunched her eyebrows together in confusion.

"Scared that you don't like him as much as he likes you. You really hurt him with all the rejections, Lily."

"Hey, what are you two talking about?" James interjected.

"Nothing," Lily replied, immediately.

James looked from Lily to Sirius for a moment, suspiciously, and then shrugged his uninjured shoulder.

"So how was class today without me?" James asked, grinning at Lily.

"Oh, it was unbearable. I don't think I'll be able to endure another day without you," Lily joked, grinning back at him.

* * *

**So, what'd you think? Lily and James are getting closer every day. Things should be starting up soon. =]**

As always, I would love to hear what you thought. I really enjoy any comments!


	17. Truth

**Disclaimer: JKR owns this fabulous world, not me. Also, this chapter includes a line said by Jacob Black in Stephenie Meyer's _Eclipse_. The chapter title is also an idea from _New Moon._**

**Sorry for the wait. Hope you enjoy the chapter. ;) **

At Madam Pomfrey's insistence that James needed to rest, Lily left the hospital wing in good spirits. Though James was injured, he seemed like he would was going to be alright and the past couple hours they spent talking and laughing erased Lily's previous anxiety.

When she returned to the common room, she was pleased to see Olivia talking with the burly Gryffindor beater, wearing a flirtatious smile. When she met Lily's eyes, Olivia jumped slightly and then walked over to meet her.

"Do you know where James is? I haven't seen him all day and I'm starting to get worried."

"Sure you are," Lily thought to herself then added out loud, "He's in the hospital wing, but it's nothing too serious."

"Oh, no," Olivia gasped, clasping a hand to her mouth. "I'd better go see him."

"Oh, no, don't go," Lily said almost too quickly. "I just left because he was really tired. He'll probably be asleep by the time you get there."

Olivia shrugged. "Then I'll just go in the morning."

As Lily sat down at a round table to start her homework, she smirked to herself. James had just told her that if Olivia ever did come to visit, he would be pretend to be asleep.

"She's getting really annoying, lately," James had said with a sigh.

A couple of days passed and James still had not been released from the hospital wing. However, Lily made sure to stop by every day to bring him his homework, see how he was feeling, and to talk.

On the morning of the Gryffindor vs. Hufflepuff Quidditch match, James was especially irritated at still being stuck in the hospital wing.

"Ugh, how do all our professors expect me to write countless essays when I'm hurt?" James complained when Lily dropped the load of books and papers onto the table next to his bed.

"You've got extensions. That's more than Remus has and he's still sick from the transformation," Lily pointed out.

"Yeah, but at least he can still go to the match…" James answered, looking out the window, longingly. He let out a heavy sigh and then looked at Lily with a small crooked smile. "I'm sorry I'm being a pain today. I'm making you miss the match too."

"No, you're not making me miss it," Lily replied and her tone was sincere. "I'd rather be in here than outside. And it's really cold today anyways."

James turned back to the window. "True."

Lily noticed the gloom in his eyes and pointed to his books in hopes of distracting him. "Let's get started on the Potions essay. I did most of mine after I left here last night so you can use mine as a reference."

James made a face as he stared down at his blank parchment. "Lily, do we have to do homework right now? You made me do the entire Charms paper last night. And it's Saturday. Don't I get a little time off?"

Lily was about to insist that he write his essay, but he was right—he did have extra time. There went that distraction, though she wasn't terribly disappointed. She didn't feel like spending their time together doing homework, either.

"Fine," Lily responded. "Then what do you want to do?"

James glanced around the empty hospital wing and then his hazel eyes met hers. He kept looking at her until her waiting expression turned into a grin. "I'm going to break it off with Olivia," he said quietly. Even after he said it, he did not look away from her.

Lily could not find her voice. As she thought of how to respond, James placed his hand on top of hers and gave her an encouraging smile. She took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. "Why?"

James looked confused. "Why am I breaking up with her? Isn't it obvious?"

"I thought you liked Olivia," Lily said, calmly.

"I did…but when I thought _we_ could never happen. I was stupid to let it go on for so long. But you have to understand; I was never certain how much you fancied me…so I kept her around."

He looked into her eyes earnestly and intertwined their fingers. "These past few days, she's only come in once, and she's supposed to be my girlfriend. And you…" He looked down at their clasped hands. "You visit about twice a day and stay for hours to make sure I don't get lonely. Even Sirius, Remus, and Peter don't stay that long….Of course they have lives of their own," James smirked, gazing into her eyes.

Lily raised her eyebrows and withdrew her hand.

"I'm kidding," he chuckled, finding her hand again. He took a deep breath and looked down. "And I just…after that night in the Room of Requirement, I told myself I would never say it to you again; to save myself from rejection. But…after _all_ that has happened between us, I'm more certain than ever." James met her eyes again and squeezed her hand. "I love you, Lily."

Without having to think about it, the words came easily to her lips. "I love you too, James."

Then in the bright light of the hospital wing, Lily leaned forward towards James, causing her Potions essay to slip from her lap. But before their lips met, the door opened and several noisy second years burst into the room. Lily and James quickly pulled away, making a point not to look at one another.

While Madam Pomfrey busied over the small boy with the bloody nose, the two other children looked over at Lily and James, curiously. Lily quickly pulled her hand away from James' and bent down to pick up her Potions essay from the floor.

"James Potter?" asked the tallest second year.

"Yeah, that's me," James replied.

"You're Gryffindor Quidditch Captain, right?"

"Yes."

The boy flushed and his shorter friend spoke for him. "He wants to know if he can play on the Gryffindor team, even though he's in Ravenclaw."

The taller boy shoved his friend's shoulder and added, "Well, they just won the Quidditch game. Of course I want to be on their team. Ravenclaw doesn't stand a chance against them now."

"What?" James asked, excitedly. "We won?" He turned to Lily, grinning wide.

The shorter boy looked at James. "Oh, well you wouldn't know, I suspect. Yeah, your team just won. By a lot, too—three hundred to fifty."

"Yes!" James shouted. When he was done with his victory dance, he turned to the school nurse. "Madam Pomfrey, I've been stuck in here for days. Could you release me for the after party? Please? Gryffindor's just won!"

After the nurse saw the second years out the door, she walked over to James. "Now, Potter. I can't have you overexerting yourself."

"I won't, I promise."

Madam Pomfrey sighed. "Well, I was going to wait until later today, just to ensure you've fully recovered. But…if you promise to take it easy, I guess I don't see why you can't leave now."

James' eyes widened at the good news. "Thank you so much." As he climbed out of the bed, James took Lily's hand but before they could go anywhere, Madam Pomfrey stopped them.

"Hold on, Potter. Let me give you one more goblet of potion before you go," she insisted and while she crossed the room to a counter to prepare the potion, James wrapped his arm around Lily.

"Glad to be out?" she asked him.

"Yes, definitely." He gave her a smile. "Sorry the moment was ruined earlier."

Lily shrugged. "It's us. Nothing is ever easy for us. Of course the moment was ruined."

James laughed. "Well, I've waited seven years for you. A little longer won't hurt. Besides, I've still got to talk to Olivia." He made a face.

Madam Pomfrey returned, holding a small goblet of potion.

"Drink up and then you may leave. Just be careful on the staircases," she advised, giving James and Lily a warm smile.

*****

When James and Lily returned to the common room, they were received with a warm welcoming.

"James!" Sirius exclaimed, clapping James on the back.

"It's great to have you back, Prongs," Remus interjected, giving him a hug.

"We won, James!" Peter cried.

"And it was an unbelievable game," Andy added.

"You should have seen Meredith, Lily," Sirius gloated, looking proudly at the girl on his other side. "She scored about ten of our goals!"

"It wasn't that many," Meredith countered.

But Sirius didn't stop. "Don't listen to her. She's just being modest. She scored at least eight or nine," he announced, wrapping an arm around Meredith's shoulder.

As they walked further into the room, Lily saw Kelly glance down at her hand in James'. When their eyes met, Kelly gave Lily a knowing smile. "I told you it would happen," she said, softly.

Over Kelly's shoulder, Lily saw Olivia sitting on the couch with the brawny Gryffindor Beater, twirling a strand of her hair and giggling. When Lily's eyes returned to James, she caught his eye.

"I'll go talk to her," he said, giving her hand a squeeze.

"So, Lily," Meredith said as soon as James had left.

"How did it happen?" Kelly asked, rounding on her, too.

Lily sighed. "Well, it's still not official…" She went on to explain everything to her friends.

"That's great, Lily," Kelly said when Lily finished. She sighed and her eyes wandered over to where Andy stood with the other Marauders.

Lily couldn't help noticing the gloomy expression on Kelly's face. "How has it been going with Andy?" Lily asked, vaguely recalling the big argument Kelly and Andy had early that week. Unfortunately, it looked to Lily like they still hadn't worked it out.

"Not so well. I can't even remember what our fight was about. All I know is that he won't even look at me," Kelly sobbed.

"That's not true," Lily argued. She herself had seen Andy sneaking glances over at Kelly over the last few minutes. But whenever Kelly looked over, he immediately became very interested in what the Marauders were saying.

"Stop trying to make me feel better, Lily. I just feel…" Kelly stopped talking as James walked over.

"Hey Kelly, Meredith," he said, nodding to Lily's friends. "Lily, do you want to…" He jerked his head towards the portrait hole. "…go for a walk with me?"

"Uhh…James, Kelly is upset. You wouldn't mind if I stayed with her, would you?"

"No, Lily. Don't stay because of me," Kelly protested.

"Yeah, Lily," Meredith said.

But Lily only shook her head. "No. It's alright. I haven't spent much time with you in a while." Then to James she said, "Can I meet you here tonight after dinner, say around eight?"

James' mouth curved up into a crooked smile. "Sure. Like we do for patrolling?"

Lily nodded. "See you then."

After James went to join Andy and the other Marauders, Lily turned back to her friends, still smiling to herself.

"First real date with James, huh?" Meredith asked.

"Yeah." Then she sighed, looking around the room. Olivia was now wrapped around her newest boyfriend on the couch.

"Do you want to go upstairs?" Meredith asked.

Kelly and Lily nodded.

As they started towards the stairs, Lily saw a glimpse of a girl curled up in an armchair in the far corner of the room, looking lonely and forlorn. Lily thought nothing of it at first but then she recognized the long ebony hair.

"Hey, is that Amber?" she asked, turning to Meredith.

Without looking, Meredith shrugged and continued up the stairs. Lily tried to get a better look of her roommate but the view was blocked by people. Telling herself that it was probably nothing, Lily climbed the steps up to the girls' dormitories.

Once they were upstairs, Lily flopped onto her bed.

"So what's new with you guys?" Looking up she saw Kelly sitting on her bed, arms around her knees, looking a little upset. "Besides your problems with Andy," she added.

Meredith, who was sitting on the end of Kelly's bed with her legs crossed, smiled at Lily. "A lot has happened, actually. We just haven't had the chance to talk since you've been cooped up in the hospital wing with James."

"I'm sorry about that. I just—"

"It's okay, Lily. Really. We understand." Meredith glanced at Kelly, who was staring out the window, looking miserable. "I understand." A wide smile spread across her face. "Sirius …he told me he loved me last night."

"Oh, that's great, Meredith!" Lily said, getting up to hug her friend. Then her gaze fell on Kelly again. "We shouldn't be talking about this," Lily told Meredith, quietly.

Meredith nodded. "Well, that's all I really had to say about that. But did I tell you? My older sister wrote to me and she's pregnant. I'm going to be an aunt!"

Lily and Meredith spent the next half hour or so updating each other on everything that had been happening in their lives. After that, Kelly started to talk and before long was joking and laughing along with Lily and Meredith. As the afternoon wore on, the girls took out magazines and nail polish, ignoring the everlasting pile of homework that they still had to complete.

However, when Kelly was in the middle of explaining why she preferred the lead singer of one wizard band to that of another, their delightful afternoon was interrupted.

Their roommates, Alice Brown and Marlene McKinnon were escorting a sobbing girl into the room. Lily recognized Amber instantly.

"What happened?" cried Kelly. She rose from the bed, toppling a bottle of nail polish across a magazine, and went to give Amber a hug.

While Alice helped Amber pack up her things, Marlene turned to Kelly, Meredith, and Lily, looking grim.

"Her parents were found dead this morning," she explained, quietly.

Lily gasped and put a hand to her mouth.

"Is Amber leaving?" Meredith asked.

Marlene nodded. "She's going to live with her grandparents. They want to keep her close."

"That's terrible," Lily whispered, slowly shaking her head.

"Do you know who did it?" Kelly asked.

Marlene shrugged. "Death Eaters, probably. Amber's parents were Aurors and apparently caused them some trouble."

As Kelly slowly nodded, taking in the information, Marlene turned back to help gather Amber's things.

*****

Dinner was quiet that evening. Lily sat with Meredith and Kelly, who still objected to sitting near Andy, but they all were too consumed with their own thoughts to talk. After only a few minutes of eating, Lily felt full and began moving her food around her plate. As she did this, her eyes wandered down the table towards where James was sitting a little ways down the table with his friends. He caught her eye and smiled at her and her mood instantly lifted.

When they returned to the Gryffindor Tower, Lily and her friends sat down at a round table to do the homework that they had avoided earlier in the afternoon. However, after a while Sirius came to ask Meredith to go to the library with him to "study" and not long after that, Andy asked to talk with Kelly alone.

Lily saw that he looked sheepishly down at his feet when he spoke and she placed her hand on Kelly's shoulder, encouragingly.

"It'll be fine, Kelly," she whispered as her friend rose from her seat.

When she was finally alone, Lily finished the conclusion of her Defense Against the Dark Arts essay and then leaned back in her chair with a sigh. Across the room, she saw James look up from his textbook and give her a small smile. Then he rose from his chair and came to sit across from her at the table.

"How are you?" she asked, twisting her quill between her fingers.

"Not too bad," James replied. "A little bored. Potions is not the most exciting subject."

Lily raised an eyebrow. "Oh, are you just starting that essay I wanted you to do this morning?"

"Yeah." He reached for her hand across the table.

"I said you could use mine as a reference."

He shrugged. "Thanks, but I'll probably do it later anyways."

"Alright." Lily's eyes wandered across the room and she sighed heavily.

James squeezed her hand. "It's still a bit early, but do you want to head out now? I know I'm not going to do any more work tonight."

"Okay," she said, withdrawing her hand and rising from the chair.

"Wait." His hand found her shoulder. "Grab your jacket and gloves."

Lily gave him a puzzled look. "We're going outside?"

James grinned. "I changed my mind about what I wanted to do tonight."

A few minutes later, they set off together down the corridor, hand in hand, both carrying their winter jackets.

"So, do you think I'll like this place you're taking me?" Lily asked.

"We'll have to wait and see," James replied, continuing down the stairs.

"Have I been there before?" Lily persisted.

James turned to look at her. "I can't tell you that. Don't you want to be surprised?"

After that, Lily kept quiet until James brought her into the Entrance Hall. "Are you sure we should really be going outside, James?" Lily asked, her Head-Girl sense flashing.

"Don't worry about it, Lily," James said, pushing open the great doors. "You're with me. I'll keep you safe. Besides, I have my Invisibility Cloak in case we come across anybody."

When they stepped out onto the grounds, Lily glanced around, nervously, but James simply laughed.

"Nothing is going to happen," James insisted. Then, he let go of her hand, put on his coat, helped her into hers, and before her eyes, transformed into a magnificent stag. Though he could not talk, the stag looked as though he were laughing at her agape mouth.

"Yeah, yeah. I know I've seen you like this before. But it still amazes me," she said, stroking the stag's nose. He leaned into her hand and closed his eyes before kneeling down for her to climb on his back.

Lily hesitated and then climbed on. As he started to stand up again, she felt off balance and leaned forward to cling onto the stag's neck.

"I'm not too heavy, am I?" Lily asked, quietly.

In response, the stag snorted and then took off galloping. This ride was longer than the ride James had given her when she had accidentally stumbled upon the Marauders at the full moon. Cold wind rushed through her hair and she closed her eyes so she would not get frightened, or sick.

Eventually, the stag slowed to a trot and then stopped altogether. When Lily opened her eyes, she saw the Shrieking Shack in the distance through the trees. Sliding off, Lily blinked her eyes a few times to reorient herself and then gasped.

They were on the ledge that James had showed her a couple months ago in Hogsmeade. The ledge that overlooked the beautiful surrounding scenery of Hogwarts. Except that, instead of the colorful trees and patches of wildflowers that had been there before, the entire valley was covered in a smooth, untouched blanket of snow.

"Oh, James. It's breath-taking!" She turned from the view to see the human James, wearing a wide grin.

"I'm glad you like it," he said, coming to stand beside her.

Suddenly there came a chilly gust of wind and Lily involuntarily shuddered even with her coat on.

"I know, it's cold tonight," James said, wrapping his arms around her.

"That's alright. This view is worth it."

James smiled back at her. "How about this?" he asked, conjuring a large blanket out of thin air and laying it down on top of the snow.

"What's that for?" Lily asked, suspiciously.

He shrugged innocently as he sat down on the blanket.

"It's a clear night. I thought you might want to look at the stars."

Lily sat down on the blanket next to him and looked up at the sky. As James had said, there was hardly a cloud in the sky and she could see countless stars.

"Boy, if I could have had this kind of a night when I was doing my Astronomy O.W.L…"

James laughed and took her hand. "Didn't you get an Outstanding on it though?"

"Well, yes. But it would have been so much easier..."

She trailed off and looked at James who had long taken his eyes away from the stars.

"Thank you so much for bringing me here tonight, James," she said quietly.

His responding smile stretched from ear to ear. "You're welcome, Lily."

They stared into each other's eyes for what felt like a long time. Then, instinctively, Lily leaned forward towards James, and slowly closed her eyes. Without interruption and without having to sort through her thoughts, their lips met.

Immediately, James pulled back to see how Lily would react, but she gave him an encouraging smile and pressed her lips to his again.

James' lips were soft and warm and moved gently against hers. As the kiss slowly intensified, he wrapped his arms around her waist and she brought her hand up to his cheek. As she explored his mouth, he pulled her closer to him and she could not understand why they had waited until their seventh year. Why had she been so blind before now?

James was finished kissing before she was and when he broke away he was wearing a big smile.

"That should have been our first kiss, Lily."

Memories of that night in the Room of Requirement came back to Lily and she looked at James, sheepishly. "Sorry about that."

James leaned in to kiss her softly. "Don't worry about it."

When Lily tried to kiss him back, James held up a hand.

"Let's not go too fast. Besides, I brought you here to look at the stars." He flashed her a crooked smile and lay down on the blanket. Lily lay down as well and snuggled up next to James to look up at the sky.

"I can't believe there are so many stars," Lily said, softly. "Kind of makes you feel small and insignificant, doesn't it?"

"Maybe small, but I wouldn't say insignificant…not when I'm with you." He found her hand again and gave it a squeeze.

Lily smiled to herself at James' response but did not say anything. They were quiet for the next couple minutes, enjoying the stars and each other's presence.

Finally, Lily broke the silence.

"So, I've been wondering for a while…why did you do it?"

James turned to look at her, confused.

"Why did I do what?"

Lily flushed a little, embarrassed for asking the sudden question.

"All these years…you've been professing your love to me since first year," she explained. "You can't possibly have loved me in the first year. So, why did you bother?" Even though they were alone, Lily found herself whispering.

"Well, I didn't love you," James said simply.

"Ouch."

"Well, not in the first year. Like you thought, it was a game to me at first. I thought you were pretty in first year and Sirius made a bet with me. He said I couldn't get you to go out with me and, naturally, I took on the challenge. About halfway through third year, Sirius told me to give it a rest. But, knowing me, I was an arrogant, stubborn, git—"

"You can stop calling yourself names, James. I get it."

He gave her a small smile and continued.

"Well, anyways, I still thought I could get you and you struck my interest because not only were you pretty, but you didn't fall for my charm like other girls did. But, eventually, around the end of fifth year, I realized that it wasn't a game anymore. You were not some prize to be won. You were this amazing girl that I had fallen in love with and couldn't have. I ended up giving up hope of having you a couple times and figured I'd try to grow up instead. And then seventh year came around, and here we are…"

Lily felt a lump form in her throat as James finished speaking. She had never imagined that James had actually loved her for the past two years. All of his crazy attempts to get her attention or proclaim his feelings had been real; or at least since fifth year they had been. That also explained why he had been so distant from her at the beginning of the year. He had given up on her.

"Thank you for telling me that, James," Lily said, leaning in to kiss him on the cheek.

"You're welcome," he replied.

She let out a long sigh. "I just can't believe that it took me so long to realize how great a guy you really are."

"Well, remember, I was a complete prat for the longest time," James pointed out. "Don't put all the blame on yourself."

They laid there in silence for a long time and James was so still that Lily thought he might have gone to sleep. Then, there came another cold gust of wind and Lily moved even closer to James, burying her face in his chest. After it had passed, James started to sit up.

"What are you doing?" Lily asked.

"It's getting colder, and windy. We should probably be heading back."

Lily began to pout. "But I don't want to leave."

"We can come back again another time, maybe when it's warmer."

"It's not too cold," she argued but as soon as the words left her mouth, another gust of wind whipped by and Lily relented.

James transformed into a stag again and he galloped back to the castle, faster than he had ever gone before. When they arrived at the doors to the Entrance Hall, Lily clumsily slipped off and ran a hand through her windswept hair.

"Were you showing off?" she asked the now human James.

James grinned and gathered her into his arms. "Maybe a little."

Lily shook her head at him. "And Madam Pomfrey told you to take it easy."

They walked hand in hand back to Gryffindor Tower and when they arrived back in the common room it was still early enough for a few people to be left studying at the round tables. Lily brought him to the girls' staircase and stood on the first step.

"Goodnight, James," she whispered, kissing him softly on the lips. "Thanks for a great night."

He caught her hands in his and locked his hazel, smoldering eyes on her. "You're welcome," he replied, his mouth turning up into a grin. "I love you, Lils." As James said the words that made her heart skip a beat she could hear the deep sincerity behind them. Immediately, she couldn't help but mirror his grin and the words came naturally to her lips.

"I love you, too." With a final squeeze of her hands, James released her and Lily ascended the stairs, hardly conscious of where she was placing her feet. She was in love and for the first time in quite a while she felt complete.

* * *

**Don't forget to leave a review! Thanks a bunch, guys. **

**~Julia~**

* * *


	18. Valentine's Day

**Hey, sorry. This is an updated chapter now. I accidentally posted the version that hadn't been edited. **

_

* * *

_By Monday morning, the whole school seemed to know that Lily Evans and James Potter were dating. It was a little embarrassing for Lily, as just last year every was well aware at how much she hated James. There had been many occasions where he had publicly asked her out and she did not hesitate to turn him down quite vehemently.

Now, as they walked hand in hand in between classes, people would stop and stare in the corridors or whisper quickly to their friends. There was even a fourth year that walked up to James to congratulate him.

However, despite the school's reaction , Lily was happier than she had been in a long time. She enjoyed meeting James in the common room every morning before breakfast and seeing his face light up when she slipped her hand into his. They sat together in every class now, with both sets of their friends. Fortunately, this was not a problem as Meredith and Sirius were dating and Kelly and Andy, who had recently made up, got along well with Remus and Peter.

Since Valentine's Day fell on a Tuesday that year, James bribed the two Hufflepuff prefects to swap patrolling shifts so he and Lily could spend it alone together.

"It's not that big of a deal," Lily reasoned, when James had told her the change of plans. "I don't mind spending Valentine's Day with our friends."

"No, I'd really rather spend it alone. It's our first one together," he insisted. "Besides, I'm sure our friends would rather be alone, too."

"That's true," Lily agreed.

That Tuesday evening, Lily found herself stuck between two outfits with less than ten minutes left to spare before she had told James she would meet him.

"The red dress or the green blouse?" Lily asked her friends, impatiently.

"Lils, I don't know and I really don't think James will mind. But speaking of clothes…which color do you think looks better on me?" Meredith asked, combing her wet hair. Without looking at Lily, she walked out of the bathroom over to her chest of drawers, humming softly to herself.

Lily rolled her eyes. Of course Meredith would be no help. Sirius was taking her on a date tonight to Hogsmeade. Lily turned to Kelly.

"Lily, James wrote you a poem, gave you flowers and you're still worried about how you look?"

Lily started to argue but Kelly held up her hand. "Okay, okay. If you want my opinion, the green looks better with your eyes…but the red is more 'valentiney'."

Lily held up the red dress and gave it a critical look. "You don't think the dress would give him the wrong idea, do you? It's kind of low cut…"

"James knows you," Kelly answered, turning to her own clothes laid out on the bed. "And it took him seven years to finally get you. I don't think he'd try anything that you didn't want him to do."

"You're right," Lily agreed, nodding. "But I wear green too much…I'll wear the red dress tonight."

When she arrived in the common room, dressed and hair styled into loose waves, James greeted her with a grin. Even though they hadn't called it a date, he had also dressed up a little.

"Wow, you look handsome, Potter," Lily smirked, running her eyes over his thin, but muscular form. He had swapped his usual school robes for a button down shirt and khaki pants.

"You don't look bad, yourself, _Evans_," James replied, making fun of the way she had used his surname.

"Thanks," Lily smiled, as he gently took her into his arms.

When he released her, he took her hand and they climbed out of the portrait hole.

"So," James began when they had walked a little ways. "I was wondering if you'd like to visit our 'tree-house' again."

Lily was confused for a moment until she remembered that that was the nickname she had dubbed the Room of Requirement.

"Oh," she mumbled, looking down at her feet. Even though it was the place where James had first told her he loved her, she could not help but feel a bit embarrassed, remembering how harshly she had rejected him.

"It's alright," James assured her, seeming to read her mind. "I won't make you kiss me this time if you don't want to."

When Lily looked up at him, he smiled teasingly and squeezed her hand. She managed a smile back and then shyly looked away.

After a few more minutes of walking, they arrived at the Room of Requirement and James released her hand to pace in front of the door. When the doors appeared, he opened one for her and then followed her inside.

The room was just how she remembered it: smaller than the Gryffindor common room, but just as warm and cozy. Just as there had been before, there was a fire burning in the fireplace and on the far side of the room was the same candle lit dinner table.

Before she could say anything, James led her to the table and pulled out her chair for her.

"So what are we having? You know I already ate dinner," Lily told him as he sat in the chair across from her.

"Yes, I know. But I asked the house elves in the kitchens if they could bring by some extra desserts," James explained. "No chocolate, though. I remembered," he added with a chuckle.

Lily was surprised that he remembered that conversation from back at Slughorn's Halloween party. "I don't hate all chocolate…" she started.

James held up a hand to stop her. "Nonetheless, I asked for some of the treacle tart they had at dinner."

"That sounds gr—"

Before she could finish her sentence the door opened and a thin elf with large ears came skipping into the room. "For you and your date, Mr. Potter," the elf squeaked, placing a tray bearing two slices of pie and a large bottle of butterbeer on the table.

"Thank you, Missy," James said, flashing the elf a wide grin as he opened the bottle and poured out two glasses.

"You're very welcome, Mr. Potter, sir," the elf replied. She bowed and then left the room as James turned back to Lily.

"I take it you know the Hogwarts elves very well," Lily said, raising an eyebrow.

"Yup," James answered, smiling her favorite crooked smile as he gave her one plate of pie. "The guys and I like to sneak down to the kitchens for food. We did it practically every night last year."

Lily shook her head as she turned her attention to the pie. "Of course you'd know all the secrets of Hogwarts and take advantage of the poor elves." She looked up at James with a smile to let him know she was teasing him.

"Hey, if we hadn't done that, you wouldn't have dessert now," James argued with mock indignation.

"I know. I'm sorry." She put her fork in her mouth as James reached for her plate. "Mmm!" Lily exclaimed, her mouth full of pie. James raised his eyes at her, a smile forming on his face.

Unfortunately, she had taken too large of a bite and had difficulty swallowing. When she finally managed to, Lily went into a coughing fit until her throat finally cleared.

"You okay?" James asked with his head slightly tilted.

Lily nodded. "Can I have my pie back?"

"As long as you don't choke on it," he laughed, pushing the plate back at her.

Lily knew what was going to happen before she could do anything. As the plate of pie moved across the table, it knocked into her full glass of butterbeer. Almost in slow motion, she watched it fall over and the contents spill all over her dress.

"James!" Lily shouted, pushing back from the table to look at her now soaked dress.

"Oh, no! I'm so sorry, Lily!" James cried, getting up from his seat. He picked up the knocked glass, which was still dripping butterbeer, and then turned to Lily.

"What am I going to do!? I'm a mess!" Lily exclaimed. She grabbed a napkin from the table and started sponging her dress.

Despite her panic, James looked slightly amused. "Lils," he chuckled, taking the napkin from her. "You're a witch. You can use magic to dry yourself off. Here, let me do it." He pointed his wand at her and Lily felt the pleasant warmth of being clean and dry wash over her.

"Right. I should have thought of that…" she said in embarrassment, her eyes barely meeting James'. She had been about to walk out on their date to get a change of clothes.

"Don't worry about it," he replied, now cleaning the tablecloth. After he finished, he went to sit down at the table again and flashed a grin at her. "Now where were we?" James asked.

"You mean before I made an idiot of myself," Lily grimaced, sitting back down on her chair.

"Lily," James admonished, reaching across the table for her hand. "I was the one who spilled it all over you. If anyone's the prat, it's me."

She tilted her head to the side, considering this for a moment, and then nodded. "Yeah, you're a prat."

They both laughed at that. James squeezed her hand and then let go to return to his pie. "This pie is delicious," he commented, after a couple of bites.

"Yes, it is," Lily agreed. Then she frowned. "Didn't you already have about two slices at dinner?"

James shrugged as he swallowed his last bite of pie. "Like I said, it's good."

She smiled as she pushed her own empty plate away from the edge of the table and leaned back in her chair. James did likewise and stared into her eyes across the table for a few moments.

"I got you something for Valentine's Day," he said, softly.

"Something else?" Lily replied, amazed.

James nodded and rose from his seat. Lily got up as well and he led her over to the loveseat tucked away in a corner of the room. As they sat down, Lily suddenly remembered that this was the place where James had first kissed her and she felt her heartbeat quicken.

But instead of leaning towards her for a kiss, James took a small box out of his pocket and handed it to Lily. Taking off the lid, she revealed two golden earrings in the shape of lily flowers.

"Oh, James" Lily gasped, reaching up to finger her lily necklace. Before long she would have a complete set of lily jewelry. "Where did you get these?"

James smiled. "Somewhere special. Try them on," he urged her.

She took out the small pearl earrings she was wearing and put the lily ones in her ears.

"Would you like to see yourself?" James asked, picking up a hand mirror from the small table next to them. For a moment, Lily marveled at how the room seemed to have everything they needed. Then she saw the earrings in her reflection.

"These are exquisite, James. Thank you so much."

"They look great on you," James remarked, reaching up to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear.

"Thanks…I feel bad about not getting you more," Lily continued, remembering the box of candy she had given him this morning.

"Don't worry about it. Besides, my birthday is coming up soon," he chuckled.

"Yeah…when is it? March twenty…."

"Seventh," he finished for her. "March twenty-seventh. But you should know that–I am your boyfriend after all."

"Only recently. Don't forget, I use to try to associate myself as little as possible with you. I didn't bother to remember your birthday or your class schedule or learn everything about the people you dated, as I remember _you_ doing…" She faltered. James was staring at her with his head tilted to the side, looking amused.

"I really annoyed you, didn't I?"

Lily paused as six years of memories came back to her. "Yes, you really did."

"But you didn't hate me." He stated this as a fact, rather than asking her.

Lily exhaled slowly. "No, I never hated you."

"Because deep down you loved me." James was grinning now, his arrogant side coming through.

She frowned. "Now that, I think, is going a little too far."

"Do you?" he asked, moving closer to her so their knees were touching and taking her hand.

Lily was still frowning when James leaned in to kiss her forehead.

"Fine, maybe not love," he conceded. "But you can at least admit that you liked me."

"I don't think so…" she said, a little more uncertain.

"Not even a little? All those times when you shouted at me and told me you hated me..." He kissed her on the cheek. "When you told me to leave you alone…" He kissed her other cheek. "Are you sure you never actually wanted me to do this?" He leaned in to kiss her lips and Lily felt her stomach do a back-flip.

James leaned back to see her reaction.

"Maybe I liked you a little…" She saw James' face light up. "But you have to understand that I didn't know it. All I saw then was a trouble-making Quidditch star with an over inflated head. It's taken me, as well as you," she added, "all these years to get past that. Once you deflated your head a bit, I was able to see that you're much more than meets the eye and…you're actually a really great guy."

James kissed her full on the lips again and pulled back only enough to whisper, "Thanks, Lils."

"Happy Valentine's Day, James," she said quietly, a smile playing on her lips.

"You too, Lil—" Lily cut him off with a kiss.

As James' warm lips moved against hers, his thumb softly caressed the back of Lily's hand. She broke the kiss, giggling.

"What?" James asked, looking confused.

"Don't do that. It tickles," Lily explained. She took his hand from hers and moved closer to him, wrapping his arm around her waist. She smiled, coyly, and leaned in to kiss him again.

They kissed with more intensity now. James pulled her closer to his chest and her hands found their way into his messy dark hair.

When they parted for a breath, James was smiling. "I thought you always hated my hair?"

Lily shrugged. "I've decided it looks good tousled."

James kissed her smiling lips and pulled her onto his lap. "Yours does, too."

Lily grimaced. "No, I bet it's a mess now."

"It's not," James replied, shaking his head. He reached up to run a hand through it. "It looks…sexy like that."

Lily rolled her eyes and kissed him once more. She could have stayed there for the whole night, but James finally broke the kiss by getting up. "We should probably start heading back now. We've got class tomorrow."

"Oh, yeah…right," Lily agreed, still a little breathless.

"You don't have to look so disappointed," James said, slinging an arm around her shoulder as they walked out the door. "It's not as if we can never do this again." He threw her a crooked smile.

"You're so full of yourself," Lily teased, lightly elbowing him in the side. "How are you so sure I want to do this again?" She shrugged out from under his arm before he could respond. Lily had not gone two steps before James wrapped his arms around her waist from behind.

"Because you love me," he whispered in her ear. "And also, now that you know what it's like to kiss me, you're not going to want to stop." He leaned down to plant a soft kiss on her jaw line.

Smiling to herself, Lily turned around in his arms and kissed him lightly on the cheek. "Come on. Didn't you just say that we had to go back?"

He gave her a mischievous smile. "I said we should _start _heading back. That doesn't mean we can't take our time."

As he leaned down to kiss her again, Lily wriggled out of his arms.

"Still. I would hate for one of our professors to find us like this…"

"Doing what? Kissing?" He caught up to her and took her hand. "There's nothing wrong with that. They were all young once, I'm sure they've all—"

"Whoa," Lily stopped him, holding up a hand. "I don't want to think about that."

He released her hand and pulled her into his side. "I'm just saying they would probably understand if they happened to see us…"

She sighed. "Speaking of teachers, did you practice for Charms like Flitwick told you to?"

James made a face. They had been reviewing advanced charms for their approaching N.E.W.T. exams and James had not yet managed to make anything happen to his quill, which he was supposed to turn into a Portkey.

"Do we have to talk about school right now? We are on a date after all," James protested.

Lily raised her eyebrows. "Do you want to fail your N.E.W.T.S?" she teased.

"Lily, Lily, Lily." James looked up at the ceiling and sighed. "I know how to do the charm," he explained. "But you perfectly well know I was distracted."

Lily smiled to herself, remembering Charms class yesterday.

"Professor Flitwick," Lily had called, raising her hand high in the air. "Look!" She waved her wand and her quill turned blue and trembled. Lily looked up, satisfied with her work.

"Very nice, Miss Evans!" chirped the Charms teacher. He glanced from her to James, who was writing on a piece of parchment and his smile faded. "Get to work, Mr. Potter," Flitwick advised and then left to oversee another group of students.

Lily turned back towards James.

"Did you see that?" she asked. "And that's only the third time I've done it."

"You were great, Lils," James said, reaching for her hand and giving it a squeeze.

Lily cocked her head as she finally saw a glimpse of what James had been working on.

"What's that?"

James blushed slightly and covered the parchment with his hands.

"It's nothing."

Lily frowned. "James, show me what you were writing." When he did not move, she put her hands on his wrists and pulled.

"Lily, it's not done yet," James protested. "Maybe, when it's finished…" He was really turning red now. What could he possibly be hiding from her?

"James," Lily said, gently, meeting his eyes. "Could I please see the parchment?"

He hesitated for a moment, still gazing into her eyes. However, just as he started to say no again, Lily yanked the paper out from under his hands.

"Haha!" she cried, triumphantly.

"Lily!" James objected, reaching for her wrists. But Lily had already begun to read what he had written. It was a poem. About her.

_After waiting year after year_

_I can hardly think or even hear_

_The girl with fiery hair_

_Surely cannot be there_

_It now seems so unreal_

_Beyond a doubt: I'm head over heels_

_Her laugh, her smile, her kiss_

_Something must have gone amiss_

_This beauty could not have been meant for me_

_The arrogant boy who can't even see_

_When her bright green eyes meet mine_

_I'm on cloud nine_

_She's my angel, my love, my Lily_

"Lily," James said, tentatively. "It's not done yet so…"

Lily put her finger to his lips. "James," was all she could manage to say.

He still looked at her, sheepishly, waiting for her to continue.

Lily could not stop smiling. "This is the absolute best thing anyone has ever given me." She glanced around the room to check that everyone was still preoccupied. Leaning in, she gave James a quick kiss on the lips.

"You like it?" James asked, looking a little dazed.

"I love it. And I love you." She reached for his hand and gave it a squeeze.

Coming back to the present, Lily turned to James, beaming. "Yeah, I guess you have an excuse. But still, you should practice." She looked at her watch. "Merlin, we need to get back. It's really late!"

James frowned and took her wrist to examine the watch. "No, it's five till nine, Lily. Not 11:40."

"What? That can't be right," Lily snapped, withdrawing her hand from his and examining the watch more closely. Then she realized he was right. "Oh…"

James smirked at her. "Do you have problems telling time?"

"No," she replied, indignantly.

James wrapped his arms around her. "That's okay. We can make a day of it. You can help me with charms and I'll teach you how to tell time."

"Get off of me," Lily said, pushing him away. James laughed at her as she stalked down the corridor and she turned around to stick her tongue out at him, playfully.

"Come on, Lily," James said, matching her pace. "I was kidding. I mean, it took me a while, too. I was probably five, maybe six by the time I got it right."

Lily hid a smile and sped up her pace as James snickered at his own joke. When he caught up to her again, Lily was ready.

"At least I never cried over a broomstick," she said, smiling triumphantly when James was caught off guard and his jaw dropped.

"That was first year! And I didn't think you noticed me before this year."

Lily ignored his last statement and continued. "Psh. You wish. If I remember correctly, you weren't on the Quidditch team in first year so you were at least twelve or thirteen when this happened. Maybe older. But you came into the common room one night sobbing to no end because your precious broomstick flew into the Whomping Willow." She giggled and shook her head at the absurdity of it.

James smirked at her for remembering something about him in such detail. "For your information that broom was a gift from my parents for getting accepted into Hogwarts. It was special…and expensive."

"Sure, sure. If it had been me, though, I wouldn't have cried." She smirked at him and started down the hall again.

"Because crying is so embarrassing? Weren't you the one who broke down crying before the start of the Transfiguration O.W.L.?" James pointed out.

Now it was Lily's turn to drop her jaw. "It was stressful!" she rejoined, heatedly. "And…Transfiguration is not my best subject." She recalled waiting for the start of the test, reviewing quick facts in her head. When she could not remember the theory behind human transfiguration, her eyes wandered over to James sitting a few seats over. He had been lounging in his seat, looking completely relaxed. Of course, he was at the top of the class in Transfiguration. As these memories came back to her, Lily pursed her lips and turned away from James.

A moment later, she felt James turn her by her shoulders and fold her into his chest. His hand gently stroked her hair.

"I'm sorry, Lily," he said softly. "Maybe I went a little too far. I didn't mean to make you angry or upset."

She sighed and lifted her head to look into his eyes. "And I'm sorry about the broomstick comment…I guess."

James laughed once. "Apology accepted." He leaned down and lightly kissed her. As their lips met, though, Lily began to giggle.

James broke away, looking puzzled.

"You have to admit it was a little ridiculous. Crying over a broom. At least crying over O.W.L.S is understandable," Lily added.

James shook his head. "For you, maybe," he said with a smile.

Lily sighed again and let the subject drop. "Come on. Let's go." She slung an arm around his middle and James wrapped his arm around her shoulders and together they started down the corridor towards the common room.


	19. Sister of the Bride

_Chapter 19_

It seemed to Lily that as soon as February finally came to a close and the snow that blanketed the grounds melted, her teachers became all the more aware that their N.E.W.T exams were rapidly approaching. As a result, the homework as well as the stress levels of the seventh years increased significantly just as they had during fifth year except on a much greater level.

This year, their exams would not only be more difficult, but would cover everything they had learned over the past seven years. Additionally, if they did not achieve adequate grades, they would not be eligible for certain careers. As Lily's aspiration was to be an Auror, a job which required a minimum of five N.E., she found herself spending the majority of her time poring over her books and meticulously reviewing seven years of notes.

One evening after Lily, James, and their friends had spent the greater part of the afternoon cooped up in the common room studying, Andy laid his head down on top of his textbook and groaned.

"What would happen if I failed all of my exams? I've always wanted to be a Curse-Breaker for Gringotts like my brother."

James looked up from his notes and took off his glasses to rub his eyes. "I know exactly what you mean," he yawned. "But I've got it worse than you do. Both of my parents are Aurors and I'd feel terrible if I didn't even make the grades to get into training."

"Same here," Meredith chimed in. "I've always felt pressure to do well so I can be a Healer like my mum."

"I'm glad I don't have the pressure to be like my parents." Sirius yawned and ran a hand through his shaggy hair. "I'm too tired to do any more. I might head up to bed."

Meredith glared at him as he gathered his belongings. "Don't rub it in. I've still got a ton of work to do." Lily heard her add "stupid James and his practices" under her breath.

"Aw, sweetheart, I'm sorry," Sirius teased, leaning down to kiss Meredith's head. She swatted him away. Sirius made a show of yawning and stretching for an extended period of time and then trudged up the stairs to the boys' dormitories.

One by one, the rest of the group also left the table and made their way up to their dormitories until Lily was left sitting at a round table with James, Meredith, and Andy. The four worked quietly until the clock over the fireplace struck three in the morning and Meredith threw her hands up in the air.

"I am never going to finish!" she exclaimed. Then she turned on James, crying "Of course, I may have been done an hour ago if we hadn't had a four hour practice."

"It was not four hours!" he returned in indignation.

"Oh, it certainly—"

"At most, it was two—"

"Stop it!" Andy cried. "Meredith, complaining is not helping anyone. And you've been working all day so I doubt you're going to get much more accomplished tonight. Why don't you just go up to bed? I know I'm too tired to do any decent work."

With that, he gathered up his books and turned to the stairs. Meredith sighed, quietly apologized to James, and then climbed the stairs to the girls' dormitories. When he was gone, James turned to Lily with an apologetic look.

"Sorry about that," he said, gently. "I know you were trying to finish your homework."

Lily looked around her to find that they were the only two left in the common room. "It's alright. I think I'm pretty much done with everything due this week."

James shook his head. "This week? I'll be doing well by finishing everything due tomorrow. Forget studying extra for N.E.W.T.S."

Due to the late hour and exhaustion from endlessly working, Lily couldn't help but laugh. "If you want, we could probably use our patrolling duties as study sessions," she suggested.

"No, that wouldn't work. If it was just us, I know I wouldn't study." His eyes met hers and the corner of his mouth lifted into a small smile. "And besides, I hardly get to have alone time with you outside of patrolling, what with homework and Quidditch. I'm not giving that up for school work." He made a face at the very idea.

Lily laughed again and then began putting her books into her bag.

"Wait, you're not going to bed, are you?" James asked.

She nodded as she slung her bag over her shoulder. "I don't know how much longer I can stay awake," Lily admitted.

James looked down at his textbooks spread across the table for a moment. "Yeah, I guess I'll go to bed too. Forget McGonagall and her essay."

Lily smiled at him and then started towards the stairs when he caught her by the elbow.

"Sweet dreams," he whispered in her ear. "Oh, wow that sounded corny."

"That's alright. It's the thought that counts," she responded with a giggle.

She leaned in to lightly kiss him on the cheek and then turned to head upstairs.

*****

The next morning at breakfast, Lily's snowy white owl, Snowflake, was among the sea of owls that delivered the morning post. Suddenly worried that something was wrong at home, Lily quickly untied the small envelope attached to her owl's leg and slit it open to read.

"What's that?" James asked, looking over her shoulder as Lily made an indignant noise.

"I can't believe her," she sighed, shaking her head as she threw down her mail. James was quick to pick up the letter and read its contents.

"What's wrong, Lily?" Kelly wondered.

Lily gave Kelly a dark look. "It's Petunia. She's getting married to her boyfriend over spring break."

"Oh, really?" Meredith asked, her eyes lighting up. Then her expression changed to confusion. "Why is that so bad?"

Lily propped her head on her hand. "She didn't ask me to be in the wedding. In fact, she said that she was only inviting me because our parents are making her. Some sister." She sighed as James wrapped an arm around her waist and gave her a squeeze.

"Oh, Lily, that's awful. I'm sorry," Meredith said, sympathetically.

"Yeah, I'm sorry too. You could try talking to her about how you feel?" Kelly suggested.

"I've done that countless times."

Kelly opened her mouth to answer reply but the bell rang and she gave Lily another apologetic look before rising to walk to class with Meredith and Andy.

Lily's thoughts still lingered on Petunia as she folded up the letter and followed after her friends. After all these years she had tried to be nothing but nice to her older sister, no matter how irritating she could be. As payback, Petunia had treated Lily like she didn't exist; or when she was forced to associate with Lily, she acted like she was disgusted by her. Lily could recall how she used to think of her older sister as her best friend. Unfortunately, those times seemed to mean nothing now to Petunia who saw Lily only as a freak simply because she was a witch.

When the bell rang again for their morning break, James took Lily's hand as usual and led her to a more secluded part of the nearby courtyard. As soon as they sat down on a bench James turned to Lily.

"Do you want to talk about what's bothering you?" James began in a soft voice.

Lily raised her eyes from the ground and looked at James. "How did you know—?"

"Lily, give me some credit. I know you better than you think I do. It's about your sister's letter isn't it?"

She nodded. "Well, we haven't been close in years so I guess it's not a big deal…"

"Lily," James chastised gently. "She's still your sister. You shouldn't feel bad about worrying about her." He paused and tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear. "But tell me what exactly is bothering you? You've been a little out of it all morning."

"I don't know exactly why I'm upset. I guess it's a bunch of things, really. First, she never even told me she was engaged. I know it could have been a short engagement, but I'd still think she'd want to tell me about it. If not out of courtesy then at least to brag about getting married."

"Yeah, that makes sense," James agreed, nodding for her to continue.

"And then, I'm not really keen on the guy she's marrying. I met him last summer and he's this big beefy man who thinks he's all that." She cleared her through and then said in a ridiculous deep voice, "My name is Vernon Dursley. I am an associate at a drill manufacturing company. Isn't that wonderful?" To emphasize her sheer irritation she added a laugh to make Vernon appear incredibly dim-witted.

James chuckled and gave her hand a squeeze. "Is that all?"

Lily thought for a moment and then shrugged her shoulders. "I guess that's all. I'd say Petunia is a little too young to be getting married, but it's her life. She can do what she wants."

James frowned. "How old is she?"

"She just turned twenty back in February. Why?"

"You said you thought she was too young to get married," James clarified.

"Twenty is too young," Lily declared. "I'll probably wait until I'm at least twenty-five."

"Twenty-five?" James repeated, raising his eyebrows.

Lily scrunched her eyebrows together. "You'd want to get married sooner? I know I want to have Auror training out of the way and have a good career established before I settle down and have a family."

James shrugged. "Well, if I'm in love, I don't see any reason not to wait." His eyes met hers and then he quickly looked away. "But if you really wanted to wait until after Auror training, that only takes three years so it would put us at twenty-one when we finished."

Lily yanked her hand out of James' grasp. "Whoa, how did our conversation about Petunia turn into talk of us getting married?"

James laughed and stood up, swinging his bag over his shoulder. "Don't worry Lils. You've got all the time in the world. I won't push anything until you're ready….until I'm ready." He held out his hand to her.

She hesitated, still eyeing him warily.

"Do you want me to walk you to class or not?" James said, rolling his eyes.

"Fine, but please hold off on talking about marriage. At least for a few years," Lily conceded, slipping her hand into his.

*****

The Easter holidays were rapidly approaching and as always, she looked forward to warmer weather that usually came at this time of the year. However, this year, she knew she wouldn't fully enjoy the break because James would be spending the break at home visiting with his family. On top of that, Meredith was going home as well and, though Kelly and Andy were staying at Hogwarts, she knew they would be too preoccupied with each other when they weren't studying for N.E.W.T.s to spend much time with her. And, besides her sister's wedding, Lily knew she would be spending a lot of time with her textbooks over the break.

On the last Monday before break, Lily met James for patrolling duties to find him whistling.

"Hey, Lils," he greeted her with a wide smile.

"It's Monday. Why are you so happy?" Lily asked, glumly.

"I know and I'm exhausted. I've had classes, homework, Quidditch, and patrolling but it's the last week before break. Only four more days and then I'm home for a week," he added smugly.

"Yeah, don't rub it in."

James' smile faded and he cocked his head, looking at her curiously. "What do you mean? Aren't you excited for break?"

Lily shrugged. "Not particularly. I'll be stuck at Hogwarts—except for Petunia's wedding." She grimaced, thinking of how much fun she would have that day.

Confusion and then shock tinged with embarrassment flitted across James' face. "Oh, Lily. Didn't I tell you? I could have sworn I asked you…oh, no."

"What?"

"I want you to spend the break with me. You know, to meet my parents," he said and smiled a little sheepishly.

"You what?" Lily asked, excitement building in her. James wanted her to spend the break with him? She would get to stay in his house and see him all the time.

James' cheeks went slightly red. "Well, only if you want to. You're not mad that I forgot to tell you, are you? I wrote to my parents last week and they said as long as it was okay with you and your parents…"

"James, I'm not mad. And I would love to!" Lily cried, throwing her arms around him. She pulled back and looked James in the eye. "Don't even start on your crazy marriage ideas. Just because I'm meeting your parents doesn't mean—"

"I know, Lily. I wasn't even going to say anything about it," he promised.

James released her from their embrace but kept one arm around her shoulders as they continued down the corridor.

"You do need to write to your parents before you come though. Make sure they know that you'll have your own bedroom and my parents will be home most of the time." He winked at Lily.

"Yeah, yeah. Oh! You can come with me to Petunia's wedding! I'd love to have someone besides my parents to talk to." The event that she had been dreading now seemed so much more appealing.

"Okay, I'll come," James agreed. "And you can introduce me to your family while I'm there."

Lily smiled at the idea of introducing her family to a born and bred wizard. "If you want to, sure, I'll introduce you. I can't promise you that Petunia will speak to you though."

"We'll see about that. I can be very persuasive when I want to be," he teased and pulled Lily closer to him as she rolled her eyes.

"Well, enough about my family. What are your parents like?" Lily asked.

She felt him shrug. "You already know the basics. They're both Aurors. My dad looks pretty much like me—"

"Surprise, surprise," Lily interjected.

"Yeah, well he's cool for a dad. And my mum is a great cook. Trust me, Lily. It's as good, if not better, than what the house elves serve us here."

"That's good to know. What have you told them about me? Do you think they'll like me?" she questioned eagerly.

James heard the hint of anxiety in her voice. "Oh, Lily, there's nothing to worry about. They're going to love you. They were thrilled to hear that I wanted to introduce them to my girlfriend." Lily noticed how James sounded like he was smiling when he called her his "girlfriend" which brought a smile to her face.

As they continued patrolling, James told her a little more about his parents and his life outside of Hogwarts. He told her about the clearing in the woods near his house where he and Sirius liked to play Quidditch as well as the shops in the village he lived in, called Godric's Hollow. She also managed to find out that Sirius would also be staying at James' house but, as James promised, he wouldn't be too much in the way.

When James finally turned the conversation around to her family, Lily ended up telling him quite a lot about her life before she got the letter that told her she was a witch. Her mother worked as a nurse and her father owned his own business and they were both friendly people who cared a great deal for her. After she was accepted into Hogwarts, they made a huge effort to try to understand Lily's new world and she was very thankful for their support.

Lily also told James about the tree house in her backyard that her father had built for her and Petunia when they were little girls and her favorite playground at the end of her street. She left out the part about how she often met with Severus there so he could fill her in on the magical world she had just been accepted into. As James and Severus were not on the best of terms, she figured any mention of her previous best friend might bother him.

After Lily and James finished their patrolling duties, Lily was too excited to sleep. She would not have to remain cooped up at Hogwarts after all. In the seven years that she had attended the school, Lily was honestly looking forward to leaving it for a week and spending her break the way children of wizard families spent time off when away from school.

* * *

**Hey, so I hope you liked the chapter. =] Just so you guys know, I'm leaving for Germany today for 3 weeks. I will try to write more but there probably won't be an update until the first week of July. **

**Please remember to leave a review! **

**thanks a ton, **

**~Julia~**


	20. Spring Break

**Hey everybody! So, I've been on vacation/been really busy so I have not had the time to update! Please don't be mad with me. Also, my beta just got married and was on her honeymoon (therefore had no time to edit the chapter). **

**But the chapter's up now and it's a long one-almost 5000 words. =] I truly hope you like it and I will try to update asap with chapter 21. **

**Make sure to leave me a message/review when you're done reading. I'd love to hear from you. **

* * *

Saturday morning dawned brightly with hardly a cloud in the sky. This was a pleasant surprise to Lily when she opened her curtains as the last week had been cold and dreary. Smiling to herself, she turned back to her trunk which was nearly full and racked her brain for anything she might have forgotten.

After quickly running through her mental checklist, Lily gathered the last of her things and shut her trunk. Normally, she would have spent much longer making sure that she did not forget basic things such as underwear or shampoo, but today she could not focus. The birds chirping outside seemed to better emulate Lily's mood.

After saying goodbye to her friends, Lily cast a spell to make her trunk follow behind her, and practically skipped down the staircase. Once in the common room, she saw that James and Sirius were waiting for her.

"Are you ready?" James asked, as Lily slipped her hand into his.

"Of course," she replied, cheerfully. She was very excited for this small break from school to spend time with James and his family.

"Sirius?" James looked over at his best friend with raised eyebrows. "Are you coming?"

Sirius, who had been looking into space with glazed eyes, started at the sound of his name. "Yeah, I'm coming. I don't know why Lily insisted on leaving so early," he complained. He shook his hair out of his eyes and cast the spell to make his trunk follow them as they headed out onto the grounds.

Once they had left the castle it was just a short walk across the dewy grounds before they reached the Hogwarts gates, beyond which they could apparate. As she turned on the spot, Lily winced in anticipation of the unfamiliar sensation that made her feel like she was being squeezed through a tube. Though she had gotten her license last spring, she was still not very experienced in apparition and was very much relieved when she landed firmly on the ground.

"Ugh, I'm never going to get used to that," Sirius grumbled as he picked himself up off the ground a few feet away from Lily.

James, who had landed right next to him, laughed and clapped his friend on the shoulder before turning to Lily. "So what do you think, Lils?"

At James' words, Lily suddenly became aware of their surroundings and her mouth fell open. They were standing at the foot of a well-manicured lawn that spread out before an elegant mansion.

"You live here?" she asked, incredulously.

"Yeah," James replied, smiling at her reaction.

"He didn't tell you he was rich, did he?" Sirius chuckled as Lily shook her head in disbelief.

"Come on, Lily. Let's go inside. My parents will be glad to finally meet you," James said, tugging Lily along after him.

They entered the house and Sirius immediately started up the curved staircase with his trunk as James called for his parents. While they waited, Lily observed the nicely furnished parlor that branched off the foyer. Now that she knew James' family was wealthy, she was even more nervous to meet his parents. Would they approve of an average-looking, Muggle-born for their son? James seemed to notice Lily's apprehension and squeezed her hand when they heard footsteps descending the stairs.

"Welcome home, James." A tall, kind-looking woman with dark hair streaked with silver came into view wearing a wide smile. "Is this the Lily Evans we've heard so much about?"

"Yup," her son responded, beaming. "Lily, this is my mum."

"Hi, how are you?" Lily asked politely.

"Very good, thank you." When Mrs. Potter smiled, her eyes lit up and Lily noticed that they were the exact same color as James'.

"Mum, where's dad?" James wondered. "I thought you said he'd be here to meet Lily, too."

"Oh, he had to go into work early today but he said he'll try to be home early tonight." As she spoke, she led James and Lily further into the house. The grandfather clock chimed as they entered the sitting room and Lily jumped at the noise. James threw her a reassuring smile.

"Have you all eaten yet?" Mrs. Potter asked.

James and Lily shook their heads.

"Lily was eager to start the break early," James explained with a chuckle. "Plus, I told her you're an outstanding cook."

Mrs. Potter blushed slightly. "I'll go fix you some breakfast while you unpack. How many slices of bacon would you like?"

"A plateful would be nice. I'm starving," James replied, holding his stomach.

His mother nodded. "I suppose I'll have to make two platefuls then. I passed Sirius on his way to his bedroom, but I'm sure the smell of food will wake him up."

Once they had brought their trunks upstairs, James showed Lily her room. Although James apologized, claiming that it was the smallest of all the bedrooms, Lily instantly loved it. There was a large wardrobe in the corner and the sun streamed into the room out of the wide bay window.

She sat down on the window seat, gazing out at the Potters' backyard as James explained where the nearest bathroom was and how to call their house elf, Mitzi. He also conceded that despite her room's size, she would have the benefit of being far enough away to not hear Sirius snoring.

Lily laughed at the jibe at Sirius and turned her attention back to James. "Can I see your room?"

The corners of James' mouth turned up into a smile. "Sure. It's just down the hall."

It turned out that just down the hall was longer than Lily expected. They passed room after room before James finally stopped and pushed open the door at the end of the hallway. When she stepped inside, the room reminded her at first very much of the dormitories at Hogwarts. The walls were a vivid shade of scarlet with gold trim. However, instead of several four-poster beds, there was one massive bed on one wall, a couch on another, and a table and chairs in the corner. Lily also saw that there was a bay window with a similar view of the backyard as her room had.

"Well this is impressive," Lily began after a few moments of admiring James' room.

"Yeah, it's a bit big," James admitted. "And red," he added, gesturing to the walls.

"No, I really like it. Has your family been in Gryffindor—?"

"—since the dawn of time," James laughed. "Yeah, we are very proud of our house."

Lily walked further into the room and noticed a collage of photographs on a bulletin board above the bed. Taking a closer look, she saw that most of them were of James and the other Marauders ranging from what looked like first year to present day. In some of the pictures, they simply smiled and waved back at her, but in others they stuck their tongues out or guffawed at some inside joke. Lily couldn't help but smile at how close James and his friends were, even so many years ago when she had once thought them to be incredibly obnoxious.

"What are you smiling at?" James wondered from behind her.

"You and your friends are crazy," she replied, shaking her head.

In addition to the pictures of the Marauders, Lily also noticed a pennant for Puddlemere United and a still picture of a motorbike.

"You like motorbikes?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

James shook his head, laughing. "I'm still not really sure how they work. Sirius made me put that up."

"He would," Lily giggled, sitting down on James' bed to face him. "I like your pictures. But I think you're missing something."

"What's that?" James asked, hiding a smile.

"Pictures of us."

"Oh, why couldn't I think of that?" James teased. "I do have a camera, though, and we have the whole week ahead of us. We can take as many as we want, Lils." He smiled at her and took her hand as Sirius entered the room.

"Your mum says to tell you that breakfast is ready and that she's about to leave for work," he reported. Then he eyed their clasped hands. "You two aren't going to go all lovey-dovey on me, are you?"

Lily blushed while James laughed. "Sirius, I invited Lily here. We can do whatever we want."

Sirius just nodded at James and then threw her a crooked smile. "Lily, if this prat gets on your nerves, I'm always here." He puckered up his lips and winked before quickly turning on his heel and racing out of the room.

"Sirius!" James rebuked, tugging Lily after him as he chased after his friend.

*****

The day she arrived, James, with Sirius in tow, decided to give her a complete tour of his house. After seeing every room, the boys brought her down to the basement where they unveiled boxes of candy and drinks. Lily spent the rest of the afternoon almost eating herself sick with James and Sirius while they regaled her about the pranks they used to pull on the local Muggles.

When they eventually made their way upstairs, they met the Potters who had just returned from the Ministry. Lily was embarrassed at being seen bloated with junk food and giddy from laughing and joking all afternoon so she tried to hide behind the boys. However, Mr. Potter, who looked remarkably like James, clapped his son on the shoulder as a welcoming and then asked who his friend was. Blushing, Lily introduced herself to Mr. Potter, who grinned back and warmly welcomed her to their home.

It rained for the next few days of break, but the boys still insisted that they show Lily around Godric's Hollow. Before they left the warm and dry house, she cast a spell to waterproof her clothes but she was still soaked when she stepped outside.

"James," Lily complained, ringing water out of her ponytail. "Is this really necessary?"

"Aw, Lils," James said, pulling her into his side. "It's not too bad. Besides, you look cute when you're wet." He planted a soft kiss on her nose and took her hand.

"Yeah, don't worry about it, Lily," Sirius added, as they started down the street. "Besides, what else would we be doing today?"

"Who knows?" Lily grumbled, rolling her eyes. "I'm sure you two would think of something to do."

Sirius and James laughed.

Despite her worries, Lily did end up having fun and the rain actually made the day more exciting and memorable. The bad weather kept most people away from the village and they felt like they had more freedom to goof off and act like children without bothering anybody. Instead of shopping, they ran through puddles and splashed each other.

Then, when Sirius mysteriously disappeared, James brought Lily to the village center and they danced together in the rain by the fountain. As water streamed down their cheeks and dripped from their hair, James twirled her in a circle and then drew her close to him.

"I can hardly recognize you, you're so wet," James told her as they danced.

"Me, too. Your hair is not even sticking up anymore," Lily commented, laughing softly.

James smiled and then picked Lily up to slide his feet under hers. Sighing in content, Lily placed her head on James' chest and for a few minutes they danced in silence. As they slowly turned in place, the rain began to let up until it was only a light drizzle.

Suddenly, Lily felt something cold and wet collide with the back of her head. Startled, she jumped away from James, who also looked stunned for a moment. Then comprehension dawned on his face and his eyes narrowed as Sirius came into view, carrying several water balloons in his arms.

"Is that where you wandered off to?" James called. "To make water balloons? You do know you hit Lily pretty hard. Why don't you apologize to her?"

"Sorry Lils, I wasn't being fair." He launched a water balloon at James. "There, now I've gotten Prongs, too."

James glanced down at his soaked shirt and then looked up at Sirius, indignation written across his face. "You're going to pay for that," he said, racing off after his friend.

Lily watched as James and Sirius rounded the fountain and eventually disappeared from sight. It made her smile that she could still her James threatening and Sirius taunting even from down the street. The boys truly acted like brothers and Lily felt more a part of their family than ever now.

The afternoon wore on into evening as James, Sirius, and Lily played in the rain. Finally, when the rain stopped altogether, they decided it was time to head back to James' house and take showers.

The following days of the break were also filled with fun activities. One day, James and Sirius tried to organize a game of Quidditch with Lily. As they had decided she wasn't a very valuable player, she would alternate playing on each of their teams. Though she hadn't expected to have much fun, just as with the rainy day in the village, the day turned out to be much better than she had initially thought it would be. She would never admit it to James, but she had actually enjoyed playing Quidditch, in spite of her poor flying ability. With the boys' guidance and enthusiasm, the game became much less intimidating and even exciting at times.

On Thursday morning James and Sirius went to visit Remus while Lily planned to shop for a dress to wear to Petunia's wedding on Friday in the village. With Mrs. Potter's directions, Lily was quickly able to find the store she was looking for. There was not a large selection, but luckily she found a light blue dress in her size and made it back to James' house by early afternoon though the boys hadn't returned yet.

Deciding to take advantage of her time alone, Lily found her Transfiguration textbook and stretched out on the Potters' couch to study. However, after only a few minutes, she quickly grew bored and started halfheartedly flipping through the pages without really seeing what she was reading. She leaned her head back on the arm of the couch and closed her eyes wondering how long she would have to wait before James and Sirius would return...

Seemingly seconds later, a gentle tug on her ponytail woke Lily from her slumber. She opened her eyes slowly and saw James smiling, his face upside down and looking amused.

"Hey, there, sleepy." He released his hold on her hair and placed his hands on either side of her on the couch.

"What time is it?" Lily asked, groggily.

"A little after four," he replied, his mouth still turned up in a grin.

Lily started to get up but James held her where she lay and leaned down to lightly kiss her lips.

"So what did you guys do at Remus'?" Lily asked.

James shrugged and began kissing her again. After a few moments, Lily broke away and gave him a puzzled look.

"Where's Sirius? I would have thought he'd interrupted us by now," she asked, her eyes glancing at the door.

"Oh, I convinced him to stay at Moony's for a little while longer. You know, so we could have some alone time," he replied and gave her a mischievous smile.

Lily sat up on the couch and faced James. "That's great. We haven't had too much of a chance to be alone yet this week." She reached up to kiss him. "So what are we going to do?"

One corner of his mouth lifted up into a crooked smile. "I don't know. What do you want to do?" he replied, raising his eyebrows which made Lily giggle.

"Come here," she commanded with a teasing smile and grabbed his shirt, pulling him onto the couch next to her.

James leaned in to kiss her. "How was your day?"

"Boring," Lily sighed. "I went shopping this morning but I spent the rest of my time studying…and sleeping."

"Oh, I'm sorry." He brushed back a strand of her hair and lightly kissed her forehead.

"That's alright," she replied. "My day has improved a bit."

"Only a bit?" James smiled and leaned in once more to trail kisses along jawbone.

A moment later, she brought her lips to meet his and took advantage of their time alone. Their kiss became more passionate and soon Lily found herself lying on the couch, wrapped in James' arms. Caught up in the moment, she lost track of time. She could only think of her relationship with James and how much he meant to her…

It was only when James pushed her away and started to sit up that Lily was able to come back to reality and orient herself. She ran a hand through her tousled hair as her boyfriend turned to face the silver, gleaming stallion that had just arrived.

The Patronus opened its mouth and Lily heard the deep voice of Mr. Potter explaining that something had come up at the Ministry and he and Mrs. Potter would be out late taking care of it. Once it had delivered its message, the stallion vanished as quick as it had arrived and James sank back onto the couch and let out a long sigh.

"You look tense," Lily noted.

He shrugged. "It's nothing. I promise."

Lily was unconvinced. "Are you sure?" she asked, taking his hand.

"Yes. It's just that…with Patronuses these days, you never know what kind of message to expect. I half expected that something had happened…"

She squeezed his hand and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "I don't think anything is going to happen to anyone."

James still looked doubtful, so Lily continued. "James, your parents can take care of themselves. And if something does happen tonight while they're away…"

"They'll be alright. They're fighters," he finished, sounding more confident.

Lily sighed and leaned into his side. "That'll be us before long."

James' mouth twitched up into a small smile for a second and then turned serious. "And you're sure you still want to be an Auror? Even now that you know how much risk is involved? You do remember that Amber's parents were just killed—"

"Yes," Lily replied, resolutely. "But I thought I told you. I've wanted to be one for a while now. I know what I'm getting myself into."

James paused for a moment. "I guess that makes sense. You are in Gryffindor, after all." He wrapped his arm around her and they sat in silence for a moment, both immersed in thought. The moment was interrupted, however, when Lily's stomach growled loudly.

James released her from his arms and got up to stand in front of her. "Are you hungry?" he teased, slipping his hands into hers.

Lily smiled slyly as he pulled her to her feet. "I think you're hearing things. I could have sworn that noise was just the portrait over there snoring."

James gave a short laugh. "Oh, really?"

"Really, really," she insisted. Just then her stomach growled again and James elbowed her lightly in the stomach.

"How 'bout some dinner?" James asked, grinning. "I can ask Mitzi to make anything you want."

"I have a better idea," Lily returned. James raised his eyebrows expectantly. "How about we make dinner together?"

James furrowed his brows. "Are you serious?" he asked after a moment.

"Completely. And if we get started early enough, we can make it without Sirius breathing down our necks," she added with a wink.

James nodded in agreement. "You do have a point," he chuckled. Lily giggled as well, thinking how Sirius would probably find a way to inhale the food before they had finished cooking it.

"So let's begin," Lily declared, pulling James by the wrist into the kitchen.

"Wait, slow down, Lils. Do you even know how to cook?" James suddenly looked skeptical. Lily knew he was only accustomed to eating good meals, either at Hogwarts or at home.

"Yes," Lily retorted, insulted. "Before I was accepted at Hogwarts, I used to help my mum in the kitchen all the time. And during the summer, I still cook quite a bit."

James seemed to relax slightly. "What were you thinking of making?"

"My mum's lasagna," Lily beamed. "It's very good and it's not too difficult to make."

"Do you have the recipe?" James asked, looking wary again.

Lily waved his question away. "I know it by heart. I've made it a hundred times." As she busied herself opening drawers and cabinets, looking for the right supplies to make the lasagna, James leaned against the counter and watched her with an amused expression.

"Is there anything I can do?" he asked.

"Well first you could help me find the ingredients. Where does your family keep herbs?"

After James directed her to the correct drawer and she found what she needed she turned to him again. "Does your family have any meat?" She set down a container of basil on the counter and glanced around the room again. "I didn't see a refrigerator so—"

James cut her off with a laugh. "Of course we don't. We're not Muggles. We use an ice box."

Lily looked puzzled. "Isn't that what Muggles used about fifty years ago?"

He shrugged and led her over to a large wooden cupboard in the corner. "This is where we keep anything that needs to be kept cold. There's ice inside and we put a cooling charm on it so it won't melt," James explained.

Lily watched with interest as he opened the door and pulled out a container of ground beef and then sausage and handed them to her.

"Do you have everything you need?" James asked as they washed their hands in the sink.

"Yes, I think so," Lily answered. She dried her hands and bent down to take a pot out of a cabinet. "Let's start making the sauce." She rolled up her sleeves and turned to smile at James. "Could you start cutting up the meat?"

"Sure," he replied.

While James chopped the meat, Lily began to carefully slice the onion. They worked in silence for a few moments until James set down his knife and started rubbing his eye.

"What is that?" James groaned.

Lily looked down at the onion and back at James, who had taken off his glasses to massage his eyes, and laughed. James looked up at her like she was crazy.

"How often do you help cook at home?" Lily asked him.

"Not very often. But what does that have to do with this?" James inquired, sounding irritated.

"It's the onion that's bothering your eyes. See?" Lily told him, holding out the onion. He smelled it and then flinched, looking disgusted. She giggled and continued slicing it again.

"How come it doesn't bother you?" James wondered, putting on his glasses once more. He picked up his knife and returned to his work.

Lily shrugged. "I guess I'm used to it," she said, dumping onion slices into the pot. "But I'm surprised that you honestly didn't know onions make you cry," she continued with a laugh.

"I didn't cry," James replied, defensively. "They just made my eyes sting."

Lily nodded and then noticed that James was only half done chopping up the meat. "Merlin, James. Aren't you finished yet?"

He frowned at her. "Well excuse me if I can't work as fast as you can. Need I remind you that your onions held me up?" he grumbled.

She shoved him lightly and rinsed off her knife so she could help him finish. As James scraped the pieces of meat into the pot, Lily quickly chopped up two cloves of garlic and added it into the mix.

Once the tomato sauce was dumped in, Lily set James to work chopping basil and parsley as she monitored the meat mixture over the fire. When the meat was brown she poured in her mother's secret tomato sauce recipe from her wand.

While the meat sauce simmered, Lily instructed James how to make lasagna noodles from scratch. Together, they mixed flour, salt, and various other ingredients to make dough.

"Hey, James, could you start on the cheese filling while I knead the dough?" Lily asked once the batter had started to solidify.

"Why can't we both knead the dough?" he asked.

Lily hesitated for a moment. "…I don't think you'll want to do that. It takes some work."

"Psh, Lily, I'm up for work. With the exception of those onions, there's nothing in the kitchen I can't handle," he promised, puffing out his chest.

Lily took the dough out of their mixing bowl and set it before James. "Okay. I'd like to see you try," she told him, slyly. "You should knead it for about ten minutes." She gave him a quick kiss on the cheek and then crossed the kitchen to an adjoining countertop to start making the cheese filling.

James lasted longer than Lily expected, but she still ended up finishing the job for him seven minutes later. When he finally surrendered, his face was impassive but she saw him turn away to flex his fingers and wring out his wrists.

Half an hour later, Lily had finished making the noodles, put them in a pan of hot water to soak, and, with James' help, finished the cheese filling. The only part they had left to do was to build the lasagna layers. To redeem himself from bailing out on kneading the dough, James had elected himself to put together the lasagna.

"Make sure to cover the bottom of the pan with enough sauce," Lily instructed.

"Okay," James replied, beginning to pour the sauce.

"But make sure you don't use too much!" Lily exclaimed as the sauce seeped over the edge of the bowl into the pan.

James rolled his eyes at her and set the pan down. Then he dipped his finger in the sauce and tapped Lily on the nose. "You need to relax, Lils. I've got everything under control," he promised and gestured to the even layer of sauce on the bottom of the pan.

Lily frowned at him and wiped off the sauce off her nose. "Let me do the noodles," she insisted, reaching across James.

"No, I can do it. You don't need to worry," he assured her, taking the noodle pan out of her hands. He laid the noodles neatly on top of the sauce and gave her a smug smile. "Could I have the cheese bowl now?"

She sighed with exaggeration and handed him the bowl. "Do I get to do anything?"

"But, honey, you've already done so much work. Let me do at least this much." James sounded as though he was trying to be sincere but threw her a teasing smile.

She narrowed her eyes but couldn't help but smile back at him. As James sprinkled mozzarella and parmesan cheeses over the ricotta cheese filling, Lily tried to think of a taunt she could reply back with. When James reached for the sauce bowl again, he caught her eye and began to chuckle.

"What?" she challenged, putting her hands on her hips.

James shook his head and glanced up at her. "I know you're trying to come up with an insult, but you can't do it. It's cute."

Lily made a face at him and shoved him out of the way. "You know what? I'm going to finish the lasagna myself." She took a handful of noodles and laid them side by side on top of the layer of sauce.

"Aw, come on, Lily. I was doing a good job," he complained. He exhaled in frustration, reached for the rest of the cheese, but Lily beat him to it. She giggled at his indignant expression and when she was finished spreading the layer of cheese, she turned around and kissed him softly on the lips.

"Okay, I'm sorry. You can finish up the rest," she relented.

"Really? Are you sure you trust me?" James asked, sarcastically. He lifted the bowl that contained the remainder of the sauce and held it precariously over the pan. "I mean it is sauce after all. If it is not spread perfectly, the entire dish will be a disaster."

"James!" Lily pleaded, trying to hide her laughter. "Just pour it."

He shot her a grin before he sprinkled a light layer of cheese on top of the sauce. Then, Lily carried the pan to the fire to cook while James set the dishes to clean themselves by magic. When that was done, Lily walked over to James and buried her face in his chest.

"We're finally done," she sighed.

"Mhm. It was actually more fun that I thought it would be," James mused.

Lily lifted her head and gazed into his eyes. "Of course it was. We did it together." Stretching up on her tiptoes, she pressed her lips to James'.

Not too much later, the lasagna was finished cooking and Lily and James eagerly helped themselves to the pasta.

"Lily, tell your mom for me that her lasagna recipe is delicious," James said, scraping the last of his meal from his plate.

"You can tell her yourself tomorrow. She'll be at Petunia's wedding," Lily pointed out.

"Oh, that's right," James said thoughtfully. "Wow, your sister is getting married tomorrow. Aren't you even the slightest bit excited for her?"

"Yeah. Overjoyed," Lily answered, flatly.

James took her hand and squeezed it, reassuringly. "It's okay. I'll be there with you."

* * *

**Thank you all for being amazing/fabulous/wonderful readers who have the patience to put up with my slowness. (hopefully won't be so long next time). You really do motivate me to write faster and give me hope that I will actually finish this story. **

**~Julia~**


	21. The Wedding

**Hey, everyone. I'm really really sorry it's taken me so long to update. i'm a senior now and applying to college and in the ib program and a varsity cheerleader. aka my life is super hectic. soo, i hope you're happy with the new chapter =] make sure to leave me some love in the comments. or at least a review ;)**

* * *

"Oh, wow. Don't you two look fancy?"

Lily turned around on the doormat to see Sirius leaning against the wall, arms folded across his chest and a smug smile on his face. She instinctively looked down at her ice blue dress. "It's not too fancy, is it?" she asked, smoothing down the layers of fabric. "I mean, after all, we're not actually in the wedding."

"No, you look great. Well, Lily does at least," Sirius added with a chuckle which earned him a glare from James who was still standing in front of the mirror in the foyer straightening his tie. "Dress robes, or suits and ties in this case, never really suited Prongs."

Lily surveyed the raven-haired boy, who looked uncomfortable and very out of place in his suit, and giggled. "I see what you mean."

"Okay, enough comments from the peanut gallery," James shot back. "Are you ready, Lily?"

"I think I have everything," Lily responded, opening her handbag. She checked the contents over one more time, making sure to have all of her essentials: wand, tissues, dungbombs in case the reception got boring and she needed to make a quick get-a-way…she turned to James and gave a final nod.

"Then I'll see you two Muggles later," Sirius laughed and he watched as in one motion James and Lily turned on the spot and disappeared before his eyes.

The two reappeared several blocks away in a deserted alley and after dusting themselves off a bit, they made the short walk to the church. When they finally approached the large front doors, Lily took James' hand and led him quickly inside knowing how nervous James must be feeling. Even though he hadn't said anything about it, she could tell that he was eager to make a good first impression. She squeezed his hand and then stood up on her tiptoes to whisper into his ear.

"We'll stay for the ceremony and just for a minute at the reception so you can meet my parents." She gave him a small, reassuring smile and then a quick kiss on the cheek before leading him into the sanctuary.

Though the room was not very large, it was mostly filled when they entered and she and James were able to slip into a pew in the back without drawing too much attention. Once they were settled, Lily searched the crowd for a familiar face but could not spot more than a few scattered here and there.

"Have you ever been to a wedding before?" Lily asked James curiously as they waited for the ceremony to begin.

James seemed content playing with their intertwined fingers and did not respond for a few moments. Finally, he sighed and looked up to meet her eyes.

"No, not even a wizard one before. Our family is not that big and no one that we've known very well has ever gotten married," he admitted.

She gave him an encouraging smile. "Well, I've never been to one either so it's a first for us both." James returned her smile half-heartedly and then turned his attention to an extremely large woman across the aisle.

"Who is _that_?" he asked Lily as the woman wrapped her arms around a beefy, mustached man.

Lily giggled at James' bewildered expression. It appeared as though he had a similar impression of the family Petunia was marrying into as she did. "The man is Petunia's fiancé, Vernon Dursley, and the woman is his mother," she explained.

"Vernie!" the woman shrieked, squeezing her son tightly. "I can't believe my little boy is all grown up and getting married!"

"Mum, not now!" Vernon grumbled. Lily and James stifled their laughs as he managed to escape his mother's embrace, his face a dark shade of purple.

Lily tore her gaze from the Dursleys and leaned towards James. "I had the joy of meeting their whole family last summer," she told him. "Vernon has a sister named Marge who doesn't look very different."

"Really?" James sniggered.

"Yeah, I should introduce you to her. She's a real treat." With a mischievous smile, Lily pointed across the aisle to where Vernon's big-boned, snooty-looking sister was sitting.

"Oh, no. You wouldn't…" James started, shaking his head.

"Oy, Marge!" Lily called.

Before she could say anything else, James clapped his hand over her mouth. "Lily," he warned.

She pushed his hand away. "I was just kidding. But don't worry, there's still the reception," she finished with a wink.

James folded his arms across his chest and rolled his eyes to exaggerate his indignation. Lily raised her eyebrows and was about to tease James again but was cut off when the music began, indicating the start of the ceremony. Leaning forward in her seat, she looked towards the aisle to watch as the wedding party entered the sanctuary.

Even though it was only her disagreeable older sister getting married to a man she knew she would never find charming, Lily did enjoy the wedding ceremony. The bridesmaid dresses were a lovely periwinkle color, Petunia looked stunning in her flowing white dress and seemed simply radiant next to her husband-to-be.

As Petunia and Vernon said their vows, Lily was brought back to how she and Petunia used to drape pillow cases behind themselves as little girls and pretend to be brides getting married. Although she and her sister had grown up and long drifted apart, today she felt all the more as if she was losing the big sister of her childhood. When the music finally played at the end of the ceremony Lily found herself wiping tears away.

"Lily, are you alright?" James asked, concernedly, wrapping an arm around her shoulders.

"Yeah. I guess it's just a girl thing." She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and sniffled. "I know I'm only eighteen but seeing that almost…almost makes me want to get married, too."

James smiled and swiftly leaned in to kiss her on the forehead. "I'll marry you. Just name the date."

Lily blinked and tried to process James' words. For some reason, the nonchalance unsettled her and left a strange feeling in the pit of her stomach. As they rose from their seats, she tried to catch a glimpse of James' expression for a sign of insincerity; however, before she could do more than turn his way, she was swept up into the throng of people headed for the church door.

They walked away from the church down the smoothly paved sidewalk, all the while Lily tried to tell herself that she was over-thinking. There was no need to analyze James' words because there was no underlying hidden meaning to them. Still, for some reason, she felt uneasy.

"You okay?" James' voice interrupted her thoughts. "You seem a little quiet."

"Yeah, I'm fine. I guess I'm still a little in shock that my sister's married now."

James' mouth turned up into one of his crooked smiles. "I would say I know what you mean, but I don't have any siblings. I guess that means I can sympathize with you. "

"Yeah," agreed Lily, returning his smile. "Oh, by the way, what did you think of your first wedding?"

James pondered the question for a moment, seeming to search for the right words to say. "It was nice. Mind you, it didn't have quite the same effect on me as it did on you because I didn't know anyone…but I'm glad we went. Just think, before you know it, it'll be me and you up there tying the knot."

As James chuckled and pulled her into his side, Lily felt the same strange feeling in her stomach as she had earlier. But before her worry could show on her face, she quickly arranged her features into a pleasant smile.

"I think we're far enough to apparate now, don't you think?" Lily asked.

For a split second, James looked at her curiously and then composed his expression. He glanced down the empty street and took Lily's hand, pulling her behind a tall elm. "Let's go behind this tree, just to be safe."

After the usual feeling of suffocation that came with apparition, Lily felt her feet touch the ground. She had just enough time to take in the cluster of trees surrounding her when James tumbled into her and knocked her to the ground.

"Sorry, I'm still not an expert at this," he apologized, climbing off of her. Once he was standing, James reached out a hand and pulled Lily to her feet. "Are you sure you still want to go?"

"Yes, of course, James," Lily replied. She gave her dress a final brush to remove any signs of dirt and looked up to see the uncertainty etched across James' face. "You'll be fine," she said, taking his hand. Rubbing her thumb back and forth along his hand, Lily met his hazel eyes. "Remember, I told you that we'd just stay for a little while."

Together they walked out from the trees and into the nearby hotel, following the sound of the music until they arrived at the hotel ballroom. When they entered the room, they walked under a balloon archway and saw the beautifully decorated room. The walls were strung with streamers and lights that glimmered and created a romantic ambiance. Surrounding the dance floor were tables set for dinner, each with a pristinely white tablecloth and an arrangement of flowers in the middle.

Within fifteen minutes, the room was packed with people, most of whom Lily had never seen in her life. However, in spite of this, she was still able to identify which guests were Petunia's and which were Vernon's. As they sat watching, Lily mentioned this to James but he frowned doubtfully.

"I'm serious," she told him, leaning forward to scan the crowd. "Look at that man by the refreshments table. I have no idea who he is but I would bet you my wand he was invited by Vernon."

James followed Lily's gaze and examined the beefy bald man who was wiping his napkin across his moustache. "It's a possibility," he conceded, sneaking a glance at Lily who wore a triumphant smile.

They watched as the man brought his fist down to the table and made a heated comment to his tall, thin neighbor.

"Poor Scrawny," Lily remarked, shaking her head. "He probably made an offensive comment about drills and Burly's chewing him out."

"Either that, or he insulted moustaches," James replied. Their eyes met and they broke out laughing.

As Lily's laughter died down, a pale, mousy haired woman and a bespectacled, thin man approached their table.

"Excuse us," the man said snidely. "I'm afraid those are our seats." As James controlled his laughter, the man raised his eyebrows, creating a great amount of lines on his forehead. "If you think this is a joke…"

"We're sorry," Lily said, grabbing James by the arm. "We're leaving."

Once Lily and James had made it across the room, they broke out laughing again. Of course, at that moment, the couple turned and glared at them, which sent them into hysterics.

"Did you …did you see…" James managed to say, catching Lily by the arm. "He…" James tilted his head down and gave Lily a fierce glare, raising his glasses up on his nose to imitate the man.

"Yeah, I saw," Lily said between giggles. "They were definitely…invited by Petunia."

"Did someone call me?"

Hearing her sister's voice, Lily jabbed the still guffawing James in the side. Petunia would think even less of them if they looked like they were causing trouble at her wedding reception.

"Tuney," Lily waved over her sister.

Petunia didn't try to mask her surprise as she approached Lily and James. "Lily." She shook her head slightly, speechless. "You came," she finally said.

"Of course I came." She embraced her sister. "Congratulations."

When Lily released her, Petunia smiled slightly and opened her mouth to say something, but at the same moment her gaze fell on James. "You weren't supposed to bring a guest," she said, sharply. "I didn't pay for him to eat dinner, too." With that, she walked away without looking back.

As she watched Petunia stride away, Lily sighed. She felt James' hand come to rest on her shoulder.

"At least you tried," he said, comfortingly.

"Yeah," she said, turning to face him. "I should probably introduce you to my parents now before she makes up a story about how awful you are."

"Sounds good to me," James said, wrapping his arm around her waist.

Lily spotted her parents as soon as the announcement for dinner was made. After weaving through a crowd of guests headed to the dinner tables, Lily reached her parents. Her mother was busy directing the servers but her father noticed her and James and a wide grin spread across his face.

"Lily!" called the familiar, deep voice.

"Dad!" She threw her arms around her father's tall figure.

"It's great to see you, Lils," the balding man exclaimed, releasing her.

"You, too," Lily replied, smiling from ear to ear. "Dad, I'd like to introduce you to James Potter."

Mr. Evans looked James over and reached out to shake his hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you, James."

"You too, sir," James responded, politely.

"I take it you're taking good care of my Lily, here," Mr. Evans said, inclining his head slightly.

"Oh, yes," James smiled. "She's great."

Mr. Evans nodded approvingly. "So, Lily, where did Petunia put you and James for dinner?"

"Lily!" cried a different, higher pitched voice. "You made it!"

Mr. Evans, Lily, and James turned to see a small, red-haired woman rushing forward to greet them. Before Lily could reply, her mother wrapped her arms around her and pulled her close.

"I'm so glad you're here, sweetie." She released Lily wearing a kind smile and then turned to survey James. "Look who you brought."

Lily blushed and took hold of James' hand. "Mum, this is James, my boyfriend."

James reached out to shake Lily's mother's hand. "How are you, Mrs. Evans?"

"Good, thanks." Then leaning towards Lily she whispered loudly, "He's polite _and_ cute."

"Mum!" Lily mumbled.

Mr. Evans cleared his throat to save Lily from further embarrassment. "So, as I was saying…"

"Yes, right," Lily said, a little flustered. "Well, James was never actually invited to the reception. So, now that he's met you two, we might head out."

Mrs. Evans waved a hand, dismissively. "Nonsense. Mrs. Cormier wasn't feeling well so she and her husband left after the ceremony. You two can have their places at our table."

Lily glanced at James uncertainly but he raised a hand, motioning for her not to worry. "The reception's actually been more enjoyable than I expected. I don't mind staying longer," he said with a smile.

Before Lily could protest, Mr. and Mrs. Evans' attention was diverted by a pair of servers leaving Lily and James no choice left but to take their seats. With the table still empty Lily took the opportunity to turn to James, asking his opinion of her parents.

"Your dad has your eyes," was James' first response.

Laughing, Lily rolled her eyes. "Everyone tells me that. It's funny, my grandfather had green eyes, too, and my dad told me that everyone used to tell him he had his father's eyes."

James chuckled. "Maybe you'll pass it on to your son or daughter some day."

"Maybe." Lily shrugged her shoulders. "But what else? What did you think of my mum?" she pressed.

"She seemed nice. But I only saw her for two minutes. We'll probably talk more during dinner." James' expression became worried. "You think your parents liked me, right?"

Lily placed her hand on top of James.' "Definitely."

Once all the guests were seated, Petunia and Vernon were toasted and a speech was made, dinner was served. To her delight, Lily knew everyone at her table. In addition to her parents, there was an old family friend accompanied by his wife, and Lily's grandmother. While everyone ate, Lily introduced the table to James as the boyfriend she met at boarding school and everyone seemed to love him. He spoke eloquently and with charm and even made up a story about how he was pursuing a career to become a doctor to Lily's amusement. By the time the music came on to signal the beginning of the dancing, Lily's mother was insistent that Lily dance with James.

"But mum, no one else is dancing," Lily protested.

"Yes they are," Mrs. Evans countered. "Lily, he's such a nice boy, go dance with him. You're only young once." She gave her daughter a small nudge in the back and Lily threw her mother a scowl over her shoulder before she left with James.

They strolled away from the dinner table but didn't dance to the upbeat song playing. "Well your mother certainly liked me," James said with a smirk.

Lily slapped him lightly in the shoulder, hiding a smile. "Don't be so cocky."

"No, I bet I could have proposed to you tonight and she wouldn't have minded."

Lily inhaled sharply and felt her dinner turn in her stomach. Once again James was referring to the prospect of their marrying. "That might be going out on a limb," she disagreed. When James opened his mouth, Lily quickly interrupted him. "And I don't want you to try it either."

For the next few songs they stood in silence watching the other guests dance to the music. Lily was about to suggest finding their seats again when a sweet, slow dancing song began to play. Instantly, she was brought back to the night of Slughorn's Halloween party when she had danced with James before they started dating. She could still remember the spice of his cologne that night and his tenseness as they danced closer together…

"Do you remember?" she asked without thinking, regretting her words as soon as she said them. James was a boy. Of course he wouldn't remember something as specific as the song they danced to nearly five months ago.

"Yes" James answered softly. "I remember the song."

Lily turned to him, shocked, but before she could say anything, James held out his hand to her. "Do you want to dance?"

Transfixed by the smoldering of his hazel eyes, Lily nodded and allowed herself to be led onto the dance floor. This time there was no awkward hesitation and she immediately slipped her arms around James' neck as he drew her close and wrapped his arms around her waist.

As the chorus played, they swayed slowly to the beat. Lily laid her head against James' chest and closed her eyes wishing the song would never end. She wanted to forget her concerns and remember everything about this moment.

The song eventually ended but Lily and James danced to most of the other slow songs throughout the rest of the evening as well as to quite a few of the faster paced ones. Lily was pleased because for once at a family event, she knew that people weren't staring at her because of the fact that she was the _other_ Evans girl who went to boarding school ten months of the year. Whenever she tore her gaze away from James, she saw raised eyebrows and knowing smiles.

Of course none of this seemed to bother James in the slightest. In fact, at the end of the final song before Petunia was scheduled to throw her bouquet, he dipped Lily and lightly pressed his lips to hers, earning a wolf whistle from a bystander.

Blushing, Lily pulled James aside. "It's getting late. Don't you think we should be leaving?"

James threw an arm around her shoulders. "No, this is fun. Besides, your sister's due to throw the bouquet any minute." As soon as the words left his mouth, the DJ made an announcement and a crowd of women gathered in the center of the dance floor.

"Come on, let's go watch," James suggested, leading her over to the group of women.

Suddenly, the bouquet became visible as it flew through the air above the women's heads. In the clamor to catch it, a large woman knocked Lily aside and almost tripped her. Lily steadied herself and then looked up to see who caught the bouquet just to find it still traveling through the air, much too slowly. In shock, she watched as the bouquet soared past the other women and landed in her arms.

When she glanced up to see James hiding a smirk she knew exactly what he had done. Quickly, she examined the indignant faces of the other women, but none of them seemed to realize that their Muggle laws of gravity had been overruled by magic.

"James!" she hissed at him.

"What?" he asked innocently.

"You shouldn't have done that!" Lily reprimanded.

"I don't know what you're talking about, Lily," James replied with a wink.

Lily groaned in frustration. "Let's go," she demanded, grabbing him by the sleeve.

"Just one minute."

As the DJ announced the next event, Lily pulled even harder at James' sleeve, knowing what he was planning to do now. She leaned towards him to whisper sharply, "Why would you do this? Why? You _can't_ intervene!"

Just like with the bouquet, Lily watched as Petunia's garter smoothly soared over the heads of the other men to easily land in James' open arms.

But before Lily could steer James towards the door, a couple of men dragged over a chair and pushed Lily into it. With a sly smile, James knelt down and reached for her leg. If they had been alone, Lily would have kicked him. However, because they were the center of attention at her sister's wedding, Lily grimaced and allowed James to slide the garter up her leg.

When he stood up, the crowd broke out into applause. With a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach, Lily grabbed James by the arm and pulled him off the dance floor.

"And there goes the happy, soon to be wed couple!" the DJ called after them.

Lily shot a glare at James and turned to grab her purse and bid goodbye to her family before angrily striding out of the hotel.

"Lily, it was supposed to be fun," James maintained once they were outside. "Maybe even romantic…" He gave Lily a sheepish grin.

"Well, James, it wasn't." She hitched her purse higher on her shoulder and continued walking down the street. "It was embarrassing and it could have _exposed_ us!"

He made a dismissive noise. "No, it wasn't. It's not like I made the bouquet and garter do flips or anything."

"Still, it was unnecessary and inappropriate and—"

James grabbed her shoulder and held up his hands. "Whoa, what's gotten into you? I didn't break the law. I just—"

"Excuse me?" Lily interrupted, rounding on James. "Have you ever heard of the International Statue of Wizarding Secrecy?"

"No one even suspected anything," he argued back.

"But if they did, who knows what could have happened!" She exhaled sharply and resumed walking. After she had gone a little ways, however, she didn't hear James' footsteps behind her. Turning around, Lily saw him still standing underneath the streetlight a few paces behind her giving her a strange look.

"Lily, why is this such a big deal?"

She opened her mouth to reply but quickly shut it. James wouldn't understand what was really bothering her. He'd think she was over-thinking things.

When Lily remained silent, James continued. "Yes, I used magic and tried to have some fun. But that's who I am and you know it. Even if I've toned it down a bit this year, there'll always be this spontaneous, irrational side of me."

Lily waited a moment before she replied. "I know, James. And that's part of you that I fell in love with," she admitted softly.

James walked towards her and they proceeded down the street side by side. "So tell me what's really bothering you, Lily. Somehow I get the impression that you're not just upset about my nearly exposing us."

Lily shrugged her shoulders and stared at the ground.

"Lily, come on," James sighed.

"It's nothing, James," Lily answered, waving a hand. "Don't worry about it."

James caught her by the shoulder. "No, if something is bothering you, I'm going to worry about."

Lily shook off his hand. "Well, don't waste your time. It's nothing of consequence." Again, she resumed walking until she heard James groan.

"Lily!" She turned around to see him throw his hands up into the air. "Merlin, I don't understand women." In two long strides, he made his way over to her and grabbed her wrist, pulling them into an alleyway between two run-down looking stores.

"James, what are you doing?"

He took a deep breath and composed his face. "I want to understand what's wrong and _please _don't tell me it's nothing," he began, speaking slowly and gently. Lily opened her mouth to reply but James put a finger over her lips so she wouldn't interrupt him. "Just about every time I've mentioned marriage today, you've gotten this strange look on your face. Then to top it off, when I made you catch the bouquet, which is something by the way that I thought you'd love and think was romantic, you freak out on me. I honestly didn't mean to upset or offend you tonight, but if I did, please tell me. I can't read your mind, Lily."

Lily looked back at him, feeling a little sheepish. "Well, now it's going to sound dumb…or you'll think I'm acting like a little girl."

James put his hands on her shoulders. "Just tell me."

"Okay…well, you probably know that when I decide I want something, I'm dead serious about it," she began. "That's a part of who I am."

James nodded, waiting for her to continue.

"Back in the church and at the reception, you kept mentioning us getting married but it sounded so casual that it came off as almost fake…and I guess it caught me off guard," Lily admitted sheepishly.

"Lily, I—" James began but Lily held up a hand to silence him.

"I'm not finished. I know you're going to say that you were serious, but here's my bigger point. I was just being emotional at the ceremony when I said that I wanted to get married now. For me, marriage is a very serious undertaking and I won't be ready for a few years still." She gazed into his hazel eyes and swallowed. For some reason this was harder to do than she had thought it would be. "James, you're not even eighteen yet and, if you don't really count Olivia, I'm the first serious girlfriend you've had…"

"…What are you getting at, Lily?"

She took another deep breath. "…James, I love you. But, if you've never really dated anyone else, never really had anything to compare to, how can you be _sure_ that you love me? That you actually want to spend the rest of your life with me?" This time she couldn't meet James' eyes. As she stared at her feet, a tear unexpectedly dripped off the end of her nose and she felt angry with herself for letting James see how much this upset her.

Suddenly, she felt James pull her against his chest and wrap his arms tightly around her. "Lily, I wouldn't care if I had dated one girl or fifteen girls before you. _No__one _else would mean as much to me as you do." He kissed the top of her head and then pulled away to see her face. "The bigger question, though, is if _you're _sure you're not having these doubts about _me_?"

Lily crinkled her eyebrows and cocked her head slightly. "Didn't I just tell you—?"

James raised his hand to stop her. "Yes, but don't you see that I'm the same way? I think it's quite obvious, actually. I'm sure you remember how I pursued you for years, waiting for you to give me a chance. I believe I actually proposed to you in fifth year." He threw her a crooked grin and then his expression turned serious. "I love you so much, Lily. If one of us was the unsure one in this relationship, it'd be you."

Lily took a step back and leaned against the cold hard wall of the abandoned building, letting James' words sink in. Her heart was pounding so hard in her chest that when she looked down she almost expected to see it making a small bulge in her skin. Exhaling slowly, she realized that she had stopped breathing while James had been speaking. But that didn't matter. She felt as if a huge weight had been lifted from her shoulders. When she looked up to meet James' eyes, he was shaking his head.

"Lily, what am I going to do with you?" Before he gave her a chance to speak, James closed the gap between them and pressed his lips to hers.

The feel of James' lips on hers evoked passion in Lily at once. She kissed James back with all her might and reached up to wrap her arms around his neck as he ran his hands up and down her waist. Caught up in the fervor of the kiss, Lily pulled James even closer until she was completely pressed up against the wall.

She stretched her hands up to grasp his dark tangles of hair while they explored each other's mouths and then James abandoned her lips to leave a trail of kisses across her jaw and down her neck.

Breathing heavily, Lily helped James take off his suit jacket. Then, daringly, she raised her leg to hitch it around James' hip as she caught his lips once more. After a few moments, James lifted her whole body so she could wrap her legs around his waist. As they continued to kiss, Lily briefly became aware that they were going farther than they ever had before. However, almost immediately, she pushed the thought away; she was in love, she was practically engaged.

Once James began to pull at the straps of her dress, Lily seemed to come back to reality. They were in an alleyway surrounded by dirt and garbage cans.

"James," she said, breathlessly. "Stop, we can't…"

James looked up at her, confused. "I'm sorry if it was too much—" he started to say.

"No, just this isn't romantic at all," Lily confessed.

He glanced at their surroundings and then put Lily back down. "Yeah, I guess you're right."

Lily reached down to pick up her purse and suddenly heard a loud crash. Instantly, she turned around to see James picking himself off the ground.

"Sorry, I tripped over the trash can," he said, slipping his jacket back on.

Lily laughed at his clumsiness. "Are you okay?"

"Fantastic. I—" James had suddenly stopped speaking and cocked his head towards the wall.

"What?" Lily asked.

James beckoned her towards him and put his finger to his lips. As she moved closer, the front door to the abandoned building closest to them opened. Quickly, James grabbed her hand and pulled her against the wall beside him. Because they were in the alleyway, Lily couldn't see who the person was, but a gut instinct was telling her it wasn't an ordinary Muggle shopkeeper.

* * *

**Once again thanks for being great readers! Hopefully, the next chapter will be up sometime soon. **


	22. Confrontation

**Hey, sorry I've been a bit m.i.a. To reward everyone who has been so patient, I now have a new, long, dramatic chapter. =]**

_

* * *

_

Chapter 22: Confrontation

In the distance, a shadow appeared and then a moment later, a person came into view at the mouth of the alleyway. Lily tried to make out the stranger's features but James pulled her further into the shadows and slightly behind him, making a last effort to hide them from view.

"Well, well, well, who do we have here?" a male voice taunted, breaking the silence. As he came closer, Lily saw that he was a tall, scrawny teenager with a pug like face. She recognized him as one of the boys she'd seen in Severus' posse of Slytherin friends.

"Avery," James muttered under his breath. While Avery leered at them, Lily saw James slowly reach into his pocket where he kept his wand.

"It looks to me like I've found Potter prat and…" Avery leaned to the side to get a glimpse of Lily, "the Mudblood."

"Don't call her that!" James replied, hotly, drawing his wand and taking a side step so he was directly in front of Lily.

Avery raised his eyebrows and drew his wand as well. "Little defensive, aren't we, Potter?"

"What do you want, Avery?" James asked, tersely.

The Slytherin boy smirked. "I'm going to need you two to come with me."

James made an indignant sound. "What makes you think I'd follow you?"

"Yes," Lily added, stepping out from behind James. "There are two of us and only one of you." She drew her wand with a flourish and returned Avery's smirk.

Avery laughed. "However, unfortunately, Mudblood, there are more inside that would be happy to join me if you put up a fight."

"_Stupefy_!" James cried.

Still chuckling, Avery deflected the spell. "Interesting. I guess if you want it to be that way, _Cruc_—"

"Now, now, Avery. The Dark Lord is waiting."

Lily, who had closed her eyes waiting for the curse, opened them now to see Lucius Malfoy with his hand on Avery's shoulder. She glanced at James out of the corner of her eye and he looked wary. Even though they had last seen Malfoy as Hogwarts Head Boy several years ago, they had heard rumors that he had joined the Death Eaters and his words now seemed to confirm this.

Malfoy turned his attention to James and Lily. "It would not be in your best interests to start a fight. _Expelliarmus_."

Lily watched with mingled surprise and indignation as hers and James' wands flew out of their hands into Malfoy's. He then paused for a moment to give them an insolent smile before casting another spell.

"_Insideo_!" Malfoy said sharply with a flick of his wand. "Now follow."

With that, the Death Eater turned on his heel, his billowy black robes trailing behind him. Reluctantly, Lily and James moved towards the opening of the alleyway after him. As Avery was closely following them from behind, Lily only managed to exchange a brief glance with James, silently affirming that Malfoy had disabled them from disapparating. Immediately, he understood her apprehension and reached out for her hand.

Together, they made their way into the cluttered, cobwebby shop. But before Lily could get the chance to look around, she was led up a dilapidated staircase. Upstairs furniture and dusty bookcases had been pushed aside to create an expansive space. In the dim light she could see a number of chairs arranged in a semi-circle surrounding one great chair that was turned away from the stairs. As they approached, Lily caught the end of a whispered discussion.

"He said he needs it protected, Mulciber," came a strident female voice.

"But the cup will be—" another deeper voice argued.

"Not as well as it would be in my vault—"

"Enough!" a new, oddly snake like voice commanded. "Our visitors have arrived."

"What happened to Avery disposing of them?" asked a Death Eater with a gruff voice.

"It proved to be unnecessary. They weren't Muggles after all," Avery explained, coming around to stand next to the largest chair. He glanced at Lily. "Or at least one wasn't."

At that moment, the chair turned around to face Lily, James, and the accompanying Death Eaters. Lily was barely able to contain her gasp as she saw the wizard's face. Though he was wearing a hood, his pallid and strangely distorted face was easily visible. Lord Voldemort's gaze moved from James to Lily and when the blood red eyes met hers, she couldn't help but shrink into James' side.

"I see you found the son of an Auror and…a spare," Voldemort said, addressing Avery and Malfoy.

James' grip on Lily's hand tightened and he inhaled sharply. Voldemort seemed to sense how his words antagonized James and turned his attention back to them, his gaze lingering on their intertwined hands.

"I see I may have upset you," Voldemort remarked, speaking to James now. "Potter, isn't it? You do look so much like your father." He spoke with a malicious smirk on his face.

James kept quiet but stared back into Voldemort's eyes.

"I must tell you that I'm pleased to finally meet you," he continued, conversationally. "Your parents have caused me quite a bit of trouble lately." Voldemort rose from his chair and began to pace the floor in front of James and Lily.

After a moment, he turned to meet James' gaze and his scarlet eyes flashed. "Yes, Potter. You know what I'm talking about. Think back to conversations you might have overheard at Order meetings you weren't supposed to attend."

Out of the corner of her eye, Lily saw James press his lips tightly together and glare at Voldemort's feet.

The dark wizard paused to press his finger to his chin, thoughtfully. "Yes, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, does it? You're prying and careless just like your parents, aren't you, Potter?"

As Voldemort laughed derisively, Lily watched James' fists curls up into tight balls.

"_Accio wands_!" James cried. Before Voldemort or any of the Death Eaters could react, two wands flew out of Malfoy's pocket into James' hand. Just as he was handing Lily her wand back, Voldemort directed his wand towards them, shouting "_Crucio_!"

All of a sudden, Lily, who had been tensed waiting for the curse to strike James, was consumed with excruciating pain. She fell to her knees and screamed, unable to see, hear, or think clearly. Her brain could not process anything else besides the intolerable pain that coursed through her body. When the curse was lifted, she found herself lying on her side on the ground. Opening her eyes she heard anguished voices calling her name.

"_Everte Statum_!" James bellowed, shooting a jet of light at Voldemort. With a dismissive sniff, Voldemort deflected the jinx.

"_Crucio_!"

James ducked and narrowly missed the curse. As he aimed another spell at Voldemort, he bent down to pull Lily up from the ground.

"Watch Avery," he whispered in her ear as Voldemort deflected James' spell.

While James dodged yet another one of Voldemort's curses, Lily turned her attention to the Death Eater, fingering his wand. He kept glancing between James and Voldemort as if he were watching a Muggle game of tennis.

Lily's stun hit Avery just as he raised his arm towards James. Pleased with her work, she looked over the other Death Eaters, all of whom were transfixed by Voldemort and James' duel. As she reached the end of the group, however, she found herself staring into the eyes of Severus Snape.

Astonishment rooted her to the spot. Even though she knew that Severus had joined with the Death Eaters, it nonetheless caught her off guard to see him among a group of wizards and witches who wanted her and James dead. Suddenly, horror filled Severus's eyes and his mouth dropped open to shout something. Puzzled, Lily turned just in time to see James collide into her. As they fell to the ground, a jet of green light whizzed over their heads.

"My Lord!" Severus cried, emotion saturating his voice. "Please spare her!"

Surprised by the interjection, Voldemort turned to fix his gaze upon Severus.

"What use do we have for a Muggle-born?" Severus reasoned, gesturing to Lily. "She doesn't know anything. Neither of them does."

Lily and James picked themselves off the ground and watched with rapt attention as Voldemort considered Severus' words.

"You have feelings for the Mudblood, don't you, Snape?" He paused, letting this allegation sink in. "You know she is unworthy of you."

Severus neither confirmed nor denied Voldemort's accusation. "But she is innocent. At least let her go unharmed."

"But why, Snape?" Voldemort asked, irritably. "Surely you see the advantage of her presence and the effect it has on the boy."

"Yes, my lord. However, what if I propose a deal? I know of a particular person whose thoughts have strayed to the Dark Arts, but would never have enough courage to side with us on his own. If the girl goes free, I could…provide him with an extra push…" Severus gazed intently into Voldemort's eyes.

"Very well, Snape. Fools are often wonderful resources." He turned around to face James and Lily again. "The girl may go free, but erase her memory."

With wide eyes, Lily watched Severus rise from his seat while Voldemort leered at James. Clinging to James' arm she shook her head at him.

"What are you doing?" she cried in shock as Severus approached her. _"__Locomotor Mortis____!" _

Severus dodged her Leg-locker Curse. "_Sedo Persona_," he said, aiming his wand at Lily.

"_Protego_!" James yelled, trying to put himself in front of Lily.

In the midst of everything, Voldemort raised his wand once more and sent a stream of red light in James' direction.

"James, watch out!" Lily shouted, pushing him out of the way just in time. Just as she sent a disarming spell towards Voldemort, Severus grabbed Lily around the waist and pried her arms off James.

"Lily!" James shouted as yet another spell flew by him.

Tears welled up in her eyes as Lily struggled in Severus' arms. "Why are you doing this?" she demanded. "He's going to kill him!"

Despite Lily's best efforts, Severus managed to drag her down the stairs. As soon as he released her from his arms, Lily slapped him across the face.

"_I__ncarcerous_," Severus said with a flick of his wand.

Instantly, ropes wound their way around Lily and she stumbled.

"I'm sorry, but it's for the best, Lily," Severus said, righting her and lifting her to sit on top of a dusty desk.

Lily shook off Severus' hands and gave him a death glare. "Yes, letting Voldemort kill James is for the best." Once she had said those words out loud, her rage and grief consumed her. She pushed against the ropes that bound her and kicked, hoping and praying that she would hit Severus. "You know I would rather _die_ than have to hear _him_ be murdered," she said, heatedly.

"Lily, Lily!" he pleaded. "Stop it! _Sedo Persona_!"

All of a sudden, a wave of serenity washed over Lily and she stopped struggling against the ropes. A small part of her still fought back, telling her that it was just the effect of Severus' spell.

Then she could hear Voldemort's voice upstairs coldly address James. "You know if you cooperate with me, Potter, I'm sure we could get along splendidly. You see, unlike your Mudblood girlfriend," the dark wizard continued, "I know you come from a long line of pureblood wizards and witches. If you accept my proposition, there is no reason at all for me to harm—"

"I'll never join you!" James spat.

Even now James was brave enough to stand up to Voldemort instead of begging for mercy. Lily felt tears begin to flow down her cheeks. She kept waiting for Voldemort to speak the words that would end James' life—that would end her life as she knew it.

"Lily, you have to leave. If they come down and find you like this…" Severus spoke urgently and then trailed off, looking at her anxiously.

Annoyed and frustrated in spite of the calming spell, Lily turned her attention to Severus. "What are you talking about?"

Severus lowered his voice. "I won't wipe your memory—I'm actually not positive if I know how to do it correctly—but you have to leave."

"James…" Lily sobbed, as Voldemort began laughing maniacally.

"I'll give you one last chance, Potter," Voldemort's voice rang clearly. "Will I have to kill you tonight or will you join me?"

Back downstairs, Severus' expression was twisted with indecision. "If you won't leave because of him, you'll have to hide," he finally told Lily. "_Relashio_."

The ropes fell from Lily and Severus wrapped an arm around her waist to guide her across the room.

"Never!" she heard James shout.

"Didn't anyone ever tell you to be nice to your elders, Potty?" a woman yelled, mockingly. "_Crucio_!"

Lily winced as James' cries of pain echoed throughout the entire building.

"Bella, leave this to me," Voldemort said. "I want to finish the Potters' son!"

As Severus directed Lily behind a large bookshelf piled with all sorts of magical objects, she heard Voldemort shout the words that would kill James.

James. Lily felt as if the world had frozen in time. James couldn't be dead. Struggling against Severus' calming spell, she forced herself to her feet and raced across the room. She had imagined everything. She was sure of it.

Vaguely she heard Severus calling her name, begging for her to return. Ignoring him, Lily started up the stairs, adrenaline coursing through her veins. She had to make sure James was okay. And if he wasn't (the mere thought of it made her nauseous), Voldemort would have to answer to her.

"James!" she cried, drawing her wand, steeling herself for the worst.

Suddenly, she was falling backwards and her vision was obscured by darkness.

* * *

**So what do you think? Any ideas as to what's going to happen?**

**I'll try to update sooner than last time. ;)**

**~Julia~**


	23. Aftermath

Minutes, hours, or even days later, Lily opened her eyes. She was lying on her side and her body was stiff, though she could still move when she tried. Focusing ahead of her, she saw her wand resting near her in a pile of dust in the dim light. She reached for the wand and then, with some difficulty, sat up and tried to place where she was.

Except for the light of the moon let in by the sole window, the room was dark and rather cluttered. From where she sat in the corner, hidden by a large bookshelf, Lily could see stacks of dusty books, outlines of magical objects piled on top of a long table, a shabby armchair, and even a broomstick lying in several pieces among cobwebs.

Getting to her feet, Lily slowly ventured into the middle of the room, wondering how in the name of Merlin she had gotten here. The room seemed slightly familiar but for the life of her she couldn't recall why. Above a cracked and filthy mirror on the wall there seemed to be some sort of carving, and, after Lily lit her wand, she saw the small insignia identifying the shop as "Melvin's Medley of Magical Merchandise." The name did not ring a bell but she laughed to herself at the alliteration. What a mouthful. James would certainly get a kick out of it.

As soon as the thought had formed, Lily felt as if her heart had stopped. Immediately, she scanned her surroundings with vigilance, hoping beyond hope that she was somehow dreaming and that she would wake up in a world in which James was alive and well. Seeing no one, Lily turned towards the staircase and eyed it warily. She had been racing up those stairs when she had been stunned, she remembered clearly now. It must have been Severus who had stopped her. At that thought, her fists clenched in anger. Who was he to protect her, to keep her from standing up to Voldemort?

Shaking away her frustration, Lily glanced up the stairs, trying to decide the best approach to the situation. From where she stood, she could not see any lights upstairs or hear any voices but, still, she reasoned that it would be best to know as much as possible before heading up there herself.

Although Voldemort and his Death Eaters could have taken James with them, there was still a true possibility that dark wizards were still present in the building. It was also possible, she realized with a sinking feeling, that they had left James' dead body behind.

Before she could dwell on the matter any longer, though, Lily whispered "_Homenum revelio_" and performed the complicated wand movement. A moment later, the tip of her wand flashed bright yellow and then went out, indicating human presence in the vicinity.

Involuntarily, Lily let out a small gasp. She did not know what she had been expecting; but before she could picture the Death Eaters waiting to entrap her, she carefully started up the creaky wooden stairs. The hope that she might find James alive gave her enough courage to face whatever she might find.

To her great surprise, once she had reached the landing, Lily found the remainder of the stairs to be littered with debris. Only after picking her way around the fragments of wood and other rubble could she manage to enter the upstairs room, which, as she saw by the light of her wand, was unrecognizable due to the wreckage. Pieces of wood, broken furniture, and debris from the ceiling and wall created a sea impossible to ford. Right above her head a considerable section of the ceiling had been blasted away, allowing Lily to see the stars blinking the night sky. Before any debris could fall on her, she struggled to climb over the desk that blocked the doorway.

"James!" she called, as she made her way through the wreckage. Death Eaters were the least of her worries now. Selfish and cowardly as they were, she was sure they had left the scene hours earlier to avoid any connection with the destruction.

"What had happened?" a voice in the back of her head questioned, as Lily tried with great effort to move a turned over cabinet. Unable to budge it, she fell to her knees in frustration.

"James!" she called again, desperately. There was nothing but silence.

Exhaling sharply, she rose and brandished her wand. "_Reducto_!"

The cabinet exploded and a thick cloud of dust rose into the air, sending Lily into a fit of coughing. In the aftermath, several fragments of the ceiling rained down on top of her. However, once the air cleared she saw that she had successfully made a narrow path leading further into the room. Lily followed this path until she came to a large bookshelf that had been smashed into several pieces. Lowering her wand, she illuminated the ripped pages and mutilated bindings of books, and a wand.

Lily almost passed over this, but something compelled her to examine the wand more closely. Mahogany and slightly longer than her own, it had to belong to James. With her heart pounding, Lily shone her wand over the floor once more and saw a pair of legs crushed under a large section of the bookshelf.

"James!" Lily exclaimed. "Can you hear me? _Wingardium Leviosa_!" Carefully, she removed the pieces of bookshelf and saw James lying on the ground covered in rubble.

She let out a single sob and flew towards James. His glasses were crooked and broken and there was a great amount of dried blood on his temple. Brushing debris off him, Lily saw that there was also a large rip in the leg of his pants and blood still appeared to be flowing.

"_Consenesco_," Lily said, aiming her wand at James' injuries. "_Scourgify, Reparo._" Both the blood on James' face and leg receded and the skin healed itself. His glasses also repaired themselves.

"Lily?" a weak, hoarse voice murmured.

"Oh, James!" Lily cried, pulling his upper half into her lap. "What did they do to you?"

"Lily," he mumbled, reaching to touch his hand to her face. "You're alive."

"Of course I'm alive. But let's talk about you. I was convinced Voldemort had murdered you!" Lily shook her head slightly as she gazed into James' eyes. She was so thankful he had not been killed.

"It's okay, Lils," James assured her, sensing her worry. "He didn't get me. And they're all gone now. An Erumpent horn exploded."

"An Erumpent horn," Lily repeated, remembering learning about it in Potions class. "How did it happen?"

"We were dueling and I dodged a Killing Curse. The Erumpent horn was on the bookshelf in the corner and when the curse hit it, the entire room seemed to explode." James tried to sit up but Lily held him back.

"I don't want you overexerting yourself, James," she told him.

He freed himself from her arms anyways. "I'm alright. But anyways, right before I blacked out, I heard them panicking. I'm sure they all disapparated and were either convinced I was crushed by the debris or didn't care enough to find out."

"We were incredibly lucky," Lily remarked, taking James' hand.

"Yes," he agreed, giving her hand a squeeze. He smiled for a moment and then a furrow appeared between his eyebrows. "So what happened to you? I thought Snivellus was going to wipe your memory." James looked at her for an explanation.

"Oh, that's only what he told Voldemort," Lily clarified. She proceeded to explain how Severus had stunned and hidden her when she proved to be uncooperative. "If I had been conscious, I'd have come to help you sooner."

Trying to stand up, James gave her a crooked smile. "I know you would, Lily." Almost immediately as he put weight on his left leg, his lopsided grin turned into a grimace.

"What are you doing?" Lily exclaimed, rushing to help support him.

"I don't know about you, but I'd rather leave this place sooner than later. I'm afraid it's going to cave in any second now." James surveyed the room and almost to emphasize his words the floor gave an ominous moan.

"Yes, we can leave, but don't push yourself," she urged. "I _just_ healed you, or tried to at least. Let's Side-Along Apparate to St. Mungo's and see what they—"

"Aw, Lily, I don't need to go to St. Mungo's," James complained. "Just take us home. My mum will know what to do. She deals with this type of thing every day."

That stopped Lily. "Okay, fine, if you're sure." Once she was certain she had a good grip of James, she turned on the spot and together they disappeared from the wreaked, dilapidated shop.

Opening her eyes again, Lily landed outside the Potters' house, supporting James under the arms. Fortunately, once they managed to get inside the house, Mr. and Mrs. Potter, who had not left for work yet, saw them and immediately took over. Before she knew it, Mrs. Potter had James sitting in a kitchen chair with his leg propped up on another and was moving her wand in complex movements over his calf.

It was Mr. Potter who addressed Lily, still standing wide-eyed in the kitchen doorway. "Come on in, Lily. Are you alright?"

Without taking her eyes off James, Lily nodded.

"Just a little shaken?" Mr. Potter asked, kindly.

Lily turned to look at him. "Yes. I've never done that before. I've never seen Death Eaters, let alone…_Him_..."

The blood drained from Mr. Potter's face and Mrs. Potter looked up from attending to her son, looking just as white. "Do you want to explain to us what happened?"

Mrs. Potter nodded in agreement with her husband. "Yes. Last we heard you two were going to a wedding. We were worried sick when you didn't come home last night."

"Well, we did go the wedding yesterday…" James began.

"We just ran into trouble afterwards," Lily added.

Taking turns narrating, Lily and James described the events of the night to the Potters. When they were finished, James' mother had her hand clapped to her mouth and Mr. Potter stared at the floor, looking as grave as if one of them had indeed died.

After a long silence, Mrs. Potter sighed and looked between James and Lily, who had stationed herself besides his chair. "Well I'm really sorry you two had to go through that. I just want to let you know, though, that your father…" she paused to correct herself, "or, well, Mr. Potter and I are very proud of your bravery."

"You're true Gryffindors," Mr. Potter said with a smile. "I'm sure you'll both make excellent Aurors someday."

"Does this mean I can be in the Order now?" James asked, excitedly.

The smiles vanished from the Potters' faces almost instantly.

"Well, I don't know," Mr. Potter began, hesitantly, after a moment. "I suppose if you really wanted to…"

Mrs. Potter turned on him with an appalled expression. "Are you crazy?"

Mr. Potter blinked. "Well, only if they want. But I'm sure the Order would welcome them with open arms. In fact, I need to alert them of this incident."

Mrs. Potter's eyes widened with disbelief. "But they're too young! They were lucky to make it out of this alive!"

"But Mum!" James cried. "I'm eighteen—"

"No, you're not," Mrs. Potter interrupted her son, firmly.

"I will be tomorrow though," James continued, ignoring his mother's gasp as she realized the date. "But it doesn't matter anyways. I've been of age for a year now."

Mrs. Potter's lip quivered and she inhaled deeply, trying to suppress strong emotions. Mr. Potter wrapped an arm around her, reassuringly.

"But what about Lily?" James' mother asked, refusing to be beaten. "Don't try to pull her into this if she doesn't want to."

Immediately, James turned on Lily. "You want to, right? You've told me all year about how you want to be an Auror."

Lily, who had been silent for a while, looked between James' and Mrs. Potter's pleading eyes. While she truly wanted to become a member of the Order of Phoenix as much as James, she hadn't wanted to side with him and displease James' parents.

"Try to understand our concerns, Lily…and James, before making a decision to join," Mrs. Potter urged.

"I understand, but I'm sorry, I have to agree with James," Lily said, hesitantly. "I'm nearly done with Hogwarts and would love to become part of the Order, if you'll allow it."

Mr. Potter nodded. "As much as we'd like it to be, that's not up to us. Dumbledore accepts anyone of age into the Order."

Lily glanced at James who was beaming from ear to ear and slipped her hand into his.

Mr. Potter sighed. "I suppose if you want, I'll take you both with me tonight to the meeting. It's probably better anyways if you two are the ones to explain the events of last night."

James bubbled with excitement. "Wow, the Order of the Phoenix! I've got to tell Sirius."

As his parents headed out the door to work, James continued in his enthusiasm, much to the dismay of Mrs. Potter who implored him to rethink his decision even as the door was closing. Finally, with his parents out of the house, James leaned against the closed door and gazed at Lily, still drunk with happiness.

"What do you think, Lils? We're going to be in the Order of the Phoenix!"

She crossed the room to wrap her arms around his waist. "I don't know what to think," she admitted, honestly. "But I can bet that life will never be dull anymore."

James frowned. "Your life has never been dull, Lily. Not since you've known me."

Lily looked up to see one corner of his mouth turned up into a lopsided smile. "True enough. But now that we're adding Aurors, Death Eaters, and our good friend Voldemort into the mix, every day is certainly going to be an adventure."

* * *

**So sorry I've taken quite a while to update. Hopefully you enjoyed the chapter ;) I would love to hear what you thought!**

**Also, as I'm nearing the end of the story, I wouldn't mind hearing your ideas/opinions for the last couple chapters. Is there anything in particular that I should include or incorporate at the end of the story? **

**Thanks!**

**~Julia~**


End file.
